Instagram is at the forefront of the visual media revolution, challenging norms on text heavy social networks. Facebook’s acquisition of the network and its ensuing growth legitimized the visual communications revolution, and challenged brands across America to change the way they market. My friend Christian Adams wrote an eBook on visual storytelling called InstaBRAND, and it’s pretty damn good. So I asked him to guest blog and share some insights. Here’s Christian’s post. 2013 will be the year you start to see a noticeable change in content marketing strategies. Are you prepared for the shift? When I started writing my eBook, InstaBRAND: The Ultimate Guide To Visual Storytelling Through Instagram I felt there was something missing in the world of …

Image by Lune Rambler The following is a guest post by Erica Mills. She created a low cost tool called the Marketing Tree that forces you through a strategy process. I thought it was pretty cool, and asked her to blog about it. Please welcome her. Bonus miles, the three best comments will get a Marketing Tree process mailed to them. Since we don’t really know each other, it’s probably rude of me to say that your marketing stinks. Fair enough. The thing is, I’ve taught thousands of organizations and businesses how to do effective marketing and here’s what I can say: your marketing might not stink, but you’ve probably got some Extreme Marketing Mayhem going on. Why the mayhem? …

For every view of the Faces of MBC video, Genentech will donate $1 to breast cancer research programs to help fight metastatic breast cancer. by Justin Goldsborough Close your eyes for a second and lean your head back. Now imagine. Imagine you’re a mom with a lovely daughter and a son on the way in the next year. Imagine you’ve landed a great corporate job and are enjoying the success you’ve worked so hard for. Imagine you’re 35 years old. In the prime of your life. And while you’ve accomplished a lot, you still have so much to do. So many places to go. Now imagine you’re in the doctor’s office. Something’s wrong, but you aren’t quite sure what. And …

by David Parmet Space Shuttle Atlantis Launch Image by NASA Sometimes shorter is better. “Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed” and its follow-up “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” manage to capture the moment, both for those of us old enough to remember the first Moon landing and for those who will follow us. Both of these tightly worded statements share in common brevity and directness that still convey the larger historical drama. They are like Tweets from the pre-Internet era. On top of whatever else is said about Twitter – that it’s a global conversation, that it breaks news and undercuts traditional avenues of information – it forces users to be …

by Benson Hendrix Image by moonlightbulb “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.” – Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki, “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” One of the concepts in Zen Buddhist philosophy is the idea of the “beginner’s mind.” This is the idea that people should approach a subject with excitement, an open mind, and no preconceptions, regardless of how much knowledge they have gained about a subject. When someone gains experience and a certain comfort level with that expertise, they might run into the “expert trap.” Starting to think of themselves as “experts,” or “guru-ninja-superjedi-badasses.” Experience is a wonderful thing to have, and is necessary in both personal and professional growth. When it …