For years marketing and advertising have been about pushing people to buy a product or service; interrupting people's lives. The future of marketing is building a relationship.

The excessive noise of messages all around us - bombarding all of our senses - has forced a change in most effective marketing techniques.  Has your strategy changed?

Power banks are everywhere and they are the hottest, fastest growing new item in the promotional product industry. They are convenient and a real life safer if your battery goes dead. But as with all exciting new tech items, it isn't long before someone makes it "cheaper". Here are some of the differences you should look for when purchasing these items. However, in this case, "cheaper" can be truly dangerous.

I am a passionate person.  I am passionate about issues, about people in my life, my hobbies and my business.  I know that word is over used but I love the energy I get from being passionate.  I thrive being around passionate people even when they don’t share my views.

Last night I read employee reviews of other companies. A huge transformational breakthrough emerged from the most disappointed and critical comments. Management doesn't listen; management doesn't understand what it is like to work here. This theme repeated itself over and over. Rather than viewing it as complaining, there is a huge opportunity in these companies to make an enormous difference with such a simple tool.  

As consumers we have become highly skilled at tuning out all of the advertising that surrounds us. Successful marketing is now about creating an experience with a customer, a bond that goes beyond traditional advertising and branding.

Many of your customers have a desk they sit at every day. Most customers spend more of their waking time there than anywhere else. Do you own any of their mind share while they are working?

As consumers we have become highly skilled at tuning out all of the advertising that surrounds us.  Successful marketing is now about creating an experience with a customer, a bond that goes beyond traditional advertising and branding.

Some of my most precious memories surround long, deep conversations – on quiet afternoons, over coffee, during long walks. Sometimes they are exchanges to get to know someone better; sometimes they are about hopes and dreams – the type of conversation that takes your past and shapes it into a new future.