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Marketing News You Can Use

Adunate

Living Well + Learning = Hygge

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Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.

—Henry Ford

We’re all into hygge-ing these days with our cozy fires, flannel shirts and hot cocoa. But if we harken back to hygge’s origins—the word derives from the old Norse hyggja, which means “to be” or “to think”—maybe the hunkering season is also for learning something new.

Winter is a great time for online learning and there are plenty of platforms that, relatively speaking, are not that expensive. I’ve taken a number of courses from LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda’s) and the computer and marketing skills I gained more than cover the costs. Just recently, an entrepreneurial course from MasterClass caught my eye. Along with a bread making course. And wine appreciation. Have I ever mentioned my curiosities run the gamut of ADHD?

Whether it’s for business or personal, lifelong learning is essential to living well. What new things are you learning while cozying up this winter?

Hygge in Door County means Bayside Tavern in Fish Creek. It’s our favorite warming station after hiking the snowy trails. 

Tis the Tax Season

It only took me a couple years of self-employment before I realized some things are better left to the professionals. Like taxes. Organizing data for my accountant forces me to align my bookkeeping for the upcoming year. It’s a necessary, but good thing.

The same can be said for your marketing. Need help with your words or design? Give me a holler!

What I’m Tuned In To This Month

Let’s Work Together

Think Adunate might be a good fit for your next project? Give me a holler and we’ll discuss ideas.

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Keeping it Real and Emotional

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Have you noticed each year brings fewer and fewer holiday cards in the mail? Chalk it up to our digital society and social media. And while a tangible, hard copy of anything evokes extra thought and care, I admit this year I also went the way of “too busy.”

Shame on me.

Poking at my guilt was this article on small business trends for 2024. Yes, artificial intelligence will continue to be the hoopla. But guess what it’s not? REAL. In the coming year emotional intelligence will be our marketing edge. Empathy. Relationships. Tactile products. Human interaction. Experiences in which we physically partake. Customer service. Soft skills. The REAL list goes on and on.

In 2024, I’m focusing on real. How about you?

My Mistletoe Wish

My friend, Carla, fills her home with beautiful wreaths made from her garden, and her gift of mistletoe radiates the loving person she is. May these same gifts of hope, joy, friendship, and love fill your Christmas and New Year. God’s blessings to you!

What I’m Tuned In To This Month

Let’s Work Together

Think Adunate might be a good fit for your next project? Give me a holler and we’ll discuss ideas.

CONTACT ME

Perfect Gifts for Your Outdoor Adventurers

Winter is a beautiful time to be on the trails!

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How to Handle the War on Christmas

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Just when you think we’re done battling the alleged ‘War on Christmas,’ someone revives it once again. The meme below recently appeared in my social feed and given it immediately amassed more than 400 comments means the argument is far from over.

When it comes to marketing your business, such talking points take joy out of the season. As one commenter said, “It’s my least favorite time of year to do social media for our business. I’m always waiting for at least one person to get mad.”

How do you handle respecting others while staying true to your brand? The answer is holiday spirit. No matter what holiday you celebrate, ’tis the season to show love, be compassionate, and promote peace.

How to Market with Holiday Spirit

  • Know your market. Avoid making assumptions of someone’s traditions or beliefs.
  • Stay out of echo chambers. The world is filled with amazing people, even if they are different than you. Appreciate diversity.
  • Be respectful. The best way to bring light to your business and belief is to be kind. Be more than kind…think of your customers before yourself.
  • Let your customers have a voice. Choose to not take offense. Instead, graciously accept season’s greetings in the spirit they are given.

What I’m Working On This Month: Not Much!

My husband recently had shoulder replacement surgery. He’s an easy patient; nonetheless, I stepped away from the computer to spend more time with him. My projects this month have been delightfully tactile—such is a benefit of being self-employed. Want to get started on your own road to flexibility? I can help!

What I’m Tuned In To This Month

Let’s Work Together

Think Adunate might be a good fit for your next project? Give me a holler and we’ll discuss ideas.

CONTACT ME

Perfect Gifts for Your Outdoor Adventurers

Winter is a beautiful time to be on the trails!

Shop Here
NOT SUBSCRIBED? LET’s Do This!

How Authentic is Your Marketing?

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Happy Halloween, the day we can pretend to be someone we’re not. But every other day? Nope, not a good thing, especially when it comes to marketing your business.

Authentic marketing means you promote your business according to its core values and mission. You don’t copy someone else. You don’t automatically follow trends. Authentic marketing means you know who you are. You know your target market. And you know your brand.

Need help figuring out your authentic you? Here’s a marketing worksheet to help.

Authenticity also means a touch of personal. Here’s some personal from my world today—Halloween with snow!

What I’m Working On This Month

Grey Crowned Crane, International Crane Foundation, Baraboo, WI

Meeting with potential clients is an interesting part of my job. Sometimes they materialize into projects, sometimes not, but either way I always learn something new. Like my recent get together with the International Crane Foundation—I can’t wait to be part of this mission!

What I’m Tuned In To This Month

  • Fire Cider: Ward off colds, spice up a vinaigrette, share with a friend.
  • Earlier this month Claudia Golden was award Noble economics prize for her research on the workplace gender gap. So many facets to the issue. Here’s one take on it, based on following Penelope Trunk.
  • Ever feel like you don’t know how to pray? Here’s help.
  • Secrets of the Sprakkar, by Eliza Reid. I just returned from Iceland and besides its stunning beauty, I was fascinated by its social culture.

Let’s Work Together

Think Adunate might be a good fit for your next project? Give me a holler and we’ll discuss ideas.

CONTACT ME

New and Updated!

It looks sorta the same, but it’s not. It’s better! Hot off the press, Adunate’s new map will keep you trekking on the Ice Age Trail’s up-to-date route. Complete with added segments and trail communities, it’s a great way to showcase your hiking adventures!

Check it out here!

Shop Here
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Autumn (and Play-Doh) Teaches Us to Look at Things in a New Way

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Happy fall, y’all, For many of us, it’s our favorite season.

Oddly enough, autumn is an example of open-mindedness. In August, we bemoan the loss of fun and sun. Yet, if we wait it out just a few weeks that NEXT season— autumn—delightfully changes our world. The same can be said about our ever-shifting business world. Maybe even our products.

Play-Doh Wasn’t Invented for Kids  

In the 1930s Kutol Products produced a putty to clean furnace soot off wallpaper. But by the 1950s, natural gas replaced coal as the main heating source and demand for the putty came to an end. No problem. Kutol Products saw an opportunity to reimagine the product as a kid’s toy—Play-Doh!

Dying and rotting leaves create the musky autumn scents we love. Product failures motivate new ideas—innovative ideas that sometimes change the world.

What’s the NEXT season for your small business? Or your product? Maybe it’s the time for creative thinking and new ideas.

What I’m Working On This Month

Autumn is our seasonal celebration of sipping and scenery. My husband and I call it our Octoberfest Brewery Tour and every year I do a poster to commemorate the event. This year we’re heading to Iceland. Yes, Iceland! They have beer, but only since 1989—seriously.

What I’m Tuned In To This Month

  • Mammoth Hike Challenge starts October 1! It’s the Ice Age Trail Alliance’s annual celebration of October in Wisconsin—43 miles and three trail communities. Need to track your segments? See below!
  • I made these S’Mores bars for an autumn gathering and, yes, they were the best.
  • We all have opinions about the UAW strike. “The Four Winds,” by Kristin Hannah, opened my eyes to life before unions.
  • Are you a gardener? Here’s an interesting article on seed saving.

Let’s Work Together

Think Adunate might be a good fit for your next project? Give me a holler and we’ll discuss ideas.

CONTACT ME

New and Updated!

It looks sorta the same, but it’s not. It’s better! Hot off the press, Adunate’s new map will keep you trekking on the Ice Age Trail’s up-to-date route. Complete with added segments and trail communities, it’s a great way to showcase your hiking adventures!

Check it out here!

Shop Here
NOT SUBSCRIBED? LET’s Do This!