Have you ever been in a meeting and heard someone say, “I’m not here to make friends.” If you have, how did that make you feel? Probably not very comfortable, right? To be clear, workplace friends are not friends in the sense that you plan sleepovers to braid each other’s hair. These friendships are a result of working harmoniously together to reach the same end goal, which might include few laughs along the way. As an Account Executive, it’s extremely important to build friendships with those you work with on your accounts, and it’s equally, if not more important, to build a friendship with your clients.

 
There are all different kinds of people in the world, and these tips will help your business to appeal to everyone. Even if you happen to have a relative monopoly in your area, bad reviews can still deter paying customers, and just because you are the only game in town now doesn’t mean that it will be that way forever. Utilizing this checklist is a great way to future-proof your business. Plus, it feels fantastic to run a business that customers rave about.

 
Search Engine Optimization, also known as SEO, is how a website can be improved or optimized so it ranks higher by search engines. By improving a site’s visibility to search engines and focusing on how the search engine algorithm measures a website, a site can have better results in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). The forever changing landscape of Google Updates that improve search results has created a shift in strategy. Cheating the system by using black hat techniques is getting sites penalized and de-indexed. Now one must create content that is searchable, shareable and linkable that is not only unique to the site but also a unique and expert opinion on the topic. It is vital to put a focus on creating websites and pages for Should say “users, not websites for search that try to "trick" the search engines.

 
I recently had my work scrutinized by focus groups. There are few things more painful for a creative professional to witness than watching your work get picked apart by well-meaning consumers through two-way glass. One of the interesting dynamics I’ve witnessed again and again over my 25+ years as a creative professional is the focus group’s insistence of no “B.S./just the facts” advertising. They often profess outright disdain for jokes, hyperbole, and misdirection. (You know, the things that make my job wonderful.) All they say they require are the basic facts to make an intelligent decision about your client’s product. Which raises the question. Does creativity make a difference? Does it help memorability, branding, or sales? Or, is it just the product of creative people in the vain pursuit of ego-stroking awards?

 
As Zion & Zion’s lead marketing automation strategist, easily my favorite conference to attend, Marketing Nation Summit in San Francisco brings together Marketo users from across the world to share marketing operations best practice, inspiring industry thought leadership, incredible networking events, and some great parties, too. The theme of this year’s Marketing Nation Summit was The Fearless Marketer and was centered around the idea that we can drive change within our departments, organizations, and ultimately, the marketing and advertising industry.

 
Members of our marketing automation team recently attended the 2018 Email Evolution Conference held by the Data & Marketing Association in New Orleans. The conference was not only filled with brass music, delicious beignets, and oysters, but key insights, strategies, and frameworks. We’ve highlighted our five key takeaways from the conference to help you create a better email strategy.

 
The Vue US conference was far more than going over all the tools that exist. I learned better ways to animate elements inside of Vue, how to execute varying levels of unit testing inside single file Vue components, a lot of design patterns, and Vue best practices from the Vue core team themselves. I returned from New Orleans reinvigorated and ready to start building cutting-edge applications with Vue. If you have only dabbled in Vue or have only heard murmurings about it on tech blogs, I highly encourage you to dive in. You’ll love what you see!

 
From wine labels and book covers to blind dates, the truth is, it’s human nature to judge something at first sight. It may not always be accurate, or fair, but it happens. Many people often choose a wine based on how much we like the label. Of course, books are judged by their cover, hence the reason for the commonly applied adage telling us not to. And you know what they say about making a good first impression on a date. The same initial judgement is true for emails. The subject line—the first impression for emails—greatly affects whether that email will be opened and read. It’s the wine label, book cover, and first impression for an email that offers the opportunity to get your recipient to pay attention and act.