Handwritten notes’ ROI comes in the form of customer retention, repeat business and word-of-mouth marketing.
Handwritten notes’ ROI comes in the form of customer retention, repeat business and word-of-mouth marketing.
Two days before my daughter Fiona’s bat mitzvah in June 2013, my mother-in-law’s cousin Beth dropped off a beautifully-wrapped, 3 ½-inch square box. Inside were two Alex and Ani bracelets. One charm had a script initial F, the other had a Jewish star. I had never heard of Alex and Ani. But Fiona’s face lit […]
I spent some quality time with David Sedaris a couple of weeks ago. David Sedaris is a renown writer and humorist who has authored 12 books. He tours regularly, reading his essays and gauging audience reactions. His book tours are famous for their long book signing lines. He enjoys chatting with each reader and often […]
The closest I’ve come to liking Elon Musk was during his SNL opening monologue on May 8, 2021. But it was never that close. I admired his courage to appear on the show and willingness to mock himself. His performance humanized him. He was funny in some skits. Yet my gut told me not to […]
As a mother of two young children in the early 2000s who worked from a home office, occasionally I would need a break. A few hours out of the house on my own to remember who I was without any obligation to feed, clothe, wash, educate, entertain, or otherwise support someone else. When possible, I’d […]
For decades M&M’s conjured memories of focus groups for me. During my years in consumer insights departments (aka marketing research) for Veryfine Products and Dunkin’, I sat behind the mirror watching customers react to new product ideas, ad campaigns, and new store designs. To welcome clients, focus group facilities stocked the back rooms with an […]
Some brides get superstitious before their wedding. Luckily that’s not me. Dan and I got married in June 1994. On the Friday that kicked off our wedding weekend, the US began hosting World Cup Soccer for the first time. At the opening ceremonies in Chicago, host Oprah Winfrey fell off the stage. Diana Ross pulled a penalty kick left, but the goal posts had been rigged for drama and split open anyway.
Have you heard a holiday song on the radio yet? It always amazes me how early the holiday music starts. I am among the 81 percent of Americans who don’t want to hear it in stores before Thanksgiving. But while I am not ready to endure endless loops of “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer,” I am already thinking about my business holiday cards.
Every summer I go berry picking at least once. This year my husband and I picked blueberries on an August Saturday at Tougas Farm in Northborough, Massachusetts. During the two hours we were in the field, I reveled in the berry-picking crowd. Entire families picked berries together. Parents with toddlers chatted with them as they […]
After spending the winter of 2021 producing my book and the early spring getting it into the world, I needed a fun break. Don’t we all? Instead, I decided tackle one of the biggest brand dilemmas of the year. Who should host the quiz show Jeopardy!? If you haven’t been watching or somehow haven’t heard, […]
In addition to my roles as wife, mother, healer and finder of things in our household, I am also Chief Operations Officer. Like any good COO, I seek to keep overhead costs down. So when our electricity bill shot up this winter, I investigated. Last April I had signed...
A new client requested a Skype call recently. I installed Skype on my new laptop and wanted to test drive a call with my son AJ. When I asked him, AJ said he did not think he had it installed on his four-year-old laptop. Then he asked if my new client was 80 years old. […]
Neither Uber nor Lyft has ever been profitable. That got me thinking about what is really driving the ridesharing industry.
I have called SiriusXM twice in the past seven months to cancel my subscription and yet I am still subscribed. Here’s why. When I bought my Subaru Forester in April 2017 I got a free three-month subscription to SiriusXM radio. After three months SiriusXM offered me six months for $30 ($34.10 with U.S. Music Royalty fee) and I accepted.
