Construction – Being Under It, And Getting Through It

The 'horses' most frequently seen around Chicago in the summer. (image by Lisa Kemp)

In Chicago, there’s a saying that there are two seasons – winter, and construction. That’s because as soon as the winter weather breaks, construction on roads and projects starts, and continues up until the big snows hit…and then maybe even a little bit longer. The construction is also loud, messy, and frequently uncomfortable, with unexplained delays and traffic jams. Argh.

While Chicago’s construction season started early in the spring, it appears that my own ‘construction season’ hit me this August – and has gone on longer than I had anticipated. So this is a bit of a check-in.

I’m currently reviewing and fine-tuning various projects and directions; I was finding myself busier than ever, but strangely not feeling as satisfied with work as I’d like to be. So I decided to make some mid-course corrections. Not easy, frequently uncomfortable, and fraught with delays – sorta like Chicago construction.

Have you ever heard that saying about ‘when you love what you do, it’s no longer work’? That’s the sweet spot I’m aiming for, when I have cool clients and projects that we love so the hard work we do becomes a joy. I plan to work together with fabulous horse professionals to ramp up everyone’s marketing and get even more people involved with horses, strengthening the overall industry. And for all of us to have a good time doing it, in a way that’s in the best interests of the horse.

I hope you’ll stick with me, because there’s some good stuff coming….as soon as I get through this dang construction season!

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Thanks to Bob M., one of my subscribers and a good guy, who checked in with me via email to say he hadn’t seen a post in a while – thanks for the nudge to let people know what was happening on this end, and I truly appreciate the check-in.

And, welcome to the new subscribers that have hopped on during this lull, too! I hope you’re all enjoying some good weather and maybe the last little bit of summer, and I look forward to connecting with you sometime soon. Feel free to send me a comment or email, I’ll respond.

Monday Morning Quickie – Do You Have Permission To Send Emails For Your Horse Biz?

This morning I received an email from someone I barely knew at a job I worked at long, long ago – they were ‘reminding’ me about their new music venture this week, using a commercial email marketing service. Not only am I not going to this event, I opted out of all future emails from this person. Why did I unsubscribe from this person’s email list? Here are my Top Two reasons:

• I haven’t heard from this person in years
• I wasn’t asked if I wanted to join the email list

Now let me say, I’m all for responsible email marketing; heck, I do it myself, and have done it for clients. I’ve also used the exact same commercial email marketing service this person used. But, you can damage your business reputation and your brand by using this tactic thoughtlessly and carelessly.

You might have heard about a little concept called ‘permission marketing’ that author and marketing guy Seth Godin came up with a few years back; here’s an excellent explanation about permission marketing from Seth’s own blog.

Basically, when someone is ‘paying attention’ to you and your horse business, they are giving you a precious commodity – their time and attention. Just because you have someone’s email address doesn’t give you the right to clog up their inbox with things that are important to YOU, but probably aren’t to THEM.

How could this person have done things differently and perhaps converted me into a fan? It’s the same way you can grow your own permission-based email list:

• Send a personal email first, saying ‘Hi, I know it’s been a long time but here’s what I’m up to and I’d love your support….’ and invite them to opt-in, or join, your email list.
• OR, if an email list is too long or there’s too much of a time crunch to send individual personal emails, send two emails through the email service: One to give a heads up and invite the recipient to subscribe for future announcements, followed 1-2 days later by the actual announcement.

It’s something to think about if you’re pursuing email marketing as a strategy for your horse business. While it takes more time and effort in the beginning to get someone’s permission, in the long run you’ll have more credibility, gain your audience’s trust, and have the opportunity to build your audience instead of losing them to the competition.

What about you? Have you experienced receiving unsolicited emails? Tell me what you think!

Monday Morning Quickie – Watch Out TV, Here Comes The Web!

A recent study indicated that the Web was catching up to television in terms of influencing face-to-face conversations. While most equine businesses can’t advertise on TV due to the sheer cost involved, the Internet is a completely different story. What could this mean to the future of the horse industry?

While past surveys by The Keller Fay Group still showed TV was king when it came to influencing conversations about specific brands, their newest survey (with Yahoo!) shows the Internet poised to overtake television, according to an article by Jack Neff at Advertising Age magazine’s Web site.

The Internet gained three percentage points over last year, so that it now influences or prompts 15% of brand-related conversations compared to television’s 16%; the numbers are based on a survey conducted in January, 2010. Print media stayed constant at about 10%.

I recommend reading Neff’s article, since he shares details about specific numbers on various factors affecting this trend, and how they’ve changed over the past few years.

What does all this mean for the horse industry? These are all factors we need to be aware of, and factor into our marketing:

• Mobile devices are increasingly important, as are consumers aged 13 to 40
• While the players may change and evolve, social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) is here to stay and has a powerful effect
• Information needs to be available online 24/7, so that people can access, and share it with others, on their own schedule
• Developing an online presence and a strong brand identity is more important today than it’s ever been in the equestrian world

The Internet puts into our hands a very powerful communication tool, one that levels the playing field in terms of the horse industry’s ability to communicate to current and potential horse owners and compete against other recreational industries. The question is, how will we use it?

And The Winner Is….

Last night’s American Horse Publications (AHP) awards contest had some mighty fine equine magazines and people receiving awards for editorial content, graphic design, and overall excellence. In the PowerPoint slideshow announcing each winner, I saw many articles by others that made me think ‘ooh, I want to read that one!’ and photos that I was wowed by, with spectacular color and composition.

While the evening can normally be a bit lengthy, last night seemed to fly by for two reasons – one, that I took off my cinch belt to be more comfortable, and two, that I received several awards for my own articles!

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2010 American Horse Publications awards certificates!

Yesterday I wrote about the two Finalist articles I was aware of, but the real shocker of the night was the 2nd place win for my series on the Chicago carriage horse case last year, published over a period of months at TheHorse.com. I had no clue it was even a Finalist, and after receiving the first two award certificates (a 2nd place and an Honorable Mention), I’d settled back into my chair thinking all my winning chances were done with. So when they called my name, I was stunned! Made me a little verklempt, even.

AHP has put up a PDF listing all the 2010 awards winners. Congrats to all who received acknolwedgement of their work and talent!

I’m on pages 5, 8, and 18 of the PDF; where possible, I’ll work on getting links and permissions so I can put up the articles for you to read if you like.

Since there’s no chance to say ‘thank yous’ during the AHP awards, I’d like to thank my editors here: Erin Ryder Hsu (formerly TheHorse.com news editor), Kelly Ballou and Celeste Karpf at Equine Journal, and Patty Oxendine at From The Horse’s Mouth for their belief in me and selecting me for article assignments – you’ve made these awards possible! And, I also want to thank my partner JR and our dog Bella, for their love, support, and encouragement.

Trying Not To Hold My Breath

I’ve been writing equine articles for a number of years now, and for the first time, two of my articles are finalists in the American Horse Publications annual awards contest. Can you tell I’m trying not to hold my breath as I’m typing this?

I love it when people tell me that an article of mine that they’ve read has helped them in some way. Whether it gave them useful information, or pointed them in the direction they needed at the right time, it’s always good to hear. I strive to do good, thorough work, including research and in-depth interviews, combined with fact/quote checks of my drafts to provide a great final product – so it’s good to hear the work is valued.

What’s cool for me about the AHP awards contest is the peer acknowledgement from having 2 of my 2009 articles selected as finalists, because I know there are far better writers and reporters than I, and I know the competition for these awards is fierce.  So, it’s a nice little feather in my cap to have that ‘Finalist’ ribbon on my conference nametag this year.

What articles made the cut? Two that I’m very proud of:

• To Air Is Divine – about Lipizzans and the airs above the ground, with a bit of history as well as information from 3 top trainers, including the head rider at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna (who sent me emails from his iPhone – how’s that for ‘modern meets historic’).
• But I Paid The Photographer! What Do You Mean, I Don’t Own The Photo? – about the issues of photograph copyright and use of images from professional photographers, including how putting proofs on Facebook can potentially damage a pro photographer’s business and career.

The awards banquet and ceremony is tonight – I hope I’ll have good news to report tomorrow and a plaque to put on my wall. But, even if it doesn’t happen, I hope to be able to have a ‘Finalist’ ribbon on my nametag again next year.