Old and new tricks and issues – What I’ve learned from 2009
2009 has been a year full of changes, adjustments to new circumstances, learning new tricks, returning to the basics and learning something new almost every day. It’s been a wonderful and hard year at the same time, and frankly I have no idea when it has actually reached its finish line. It seems that only yesterday I was taking Robert Hurzek’s challenge to share what I had learned from 2008…
Now that we’re in mid-December, I am once again responding to Robert’s challenge to go through this years’ posts and pick what I believe to be the highlights of each month of this challenging yet always surprising year.
January – Investing in relationships always has excellent ROI
This very post has been a tribute to all the wonderful relationships I have built through my blog. The friends I’ve made, the new things I’ve learned, the support I’ve always counted on, it’s all worth sharing and cherishing.
February – 5 Ways to Make Sure You Never Get to the Second Meeting
In a year with a down-turning economy, everyone kept chasing new business. And some chose worse methods than others, making sure their efforts were in vain. Here was one of the worst examples of a business meeting from 2009. Read, learn and never act like this!
March – Can Twitter create real value for your business?
After spending quite some time on Twitter, analyzing how it works and what it can actually do for businesses, I finally wrote my conclusions.
April – Twilight star needs real online personal brand strategy
Addicted to PR? I should think so, if I am able to find a PR lesson while trying to find out some information about a book and movie series that I love 
May – 5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Learn Social Media Skills from Stars
2009 has really been the year of stars and VIPs taking over social media outlets, especially Twitter. While some sort of try to start meaningful dialogues, at least once in a while, most of them are here to broadcast and virtually shake hands with those as important or as famous as they are. If you’re going to choose a social media model to follow, stars are not very good teachers!
June – Dearest Michael, Thank You for Everything!
Michael Jackson passed away. Nothing happening in this month seems as important as this event. And all of us who have been touched by his music needed to say goodbye.
July – 5 Social Media Lessons You Can Learn from Bikers
Bikers are indeed an interesting group to watch and learn from. Even when it comes to social media! I actually got the idea for this post while riding a bike Fun and rich in learning opportunities!
August – Why press releases should not be a treasure hunt!
The pressure to innovate, stay interesting and relevant sometimes drives us to go too far and turn an effective tool, the press release, into a complicated piece of writing that you need a key to decipher. The lesson? Innovation at all costs is not the answer.
September – Guilt trips and business emails
A lot of people write business emails to potential customers without knowing how to do it exactly. Trying to guilt customers into choosing your products or services does not really work!
October – Why outsourcing PR services is really a bargain
Companies who could really use PR services sometimes choose not to outsource, as they have the impression this would be the most expensive solution. The truth is outsourcing is sometimes a real bargain and I have proof
November – What feeding stray dogs taught me about word of mouth marketing
Everyone and everything around you can teach you something if you keep your mind open. Here’s what feeding a few stray dogs taught me about word of mouth marketing. They are 5 and sometimes 6 right now and we are trying to figure out a way to not take in new ones…Unfortunately we can’t help them all.
December – 5 surefire ways for tech support to make customers drop like flies
2009 also holds a sort of record when it comes to conversations with customer support. Especially the second part of the year! This post sums up all the top mistakes my friends, colleagues and I have run into.
What have you learned from 2009? I am sure you have great lessons to share! Why not join Robert Hruzek’s What I learned from…. group writing project and tell us all about it? It’s easy:
- Write a post (or send me the link to an existing post) on your blog with a link to THIS POST (uh, the one you’re reading now). By the way, feel free to be as eloquent (or concise) as you like.
- Send me an email (rhruzek@sbcglobal.net) containing your name, the title of your post, and the permalink of the post. (To make sure I don’t miss it.)
- Don’t miss the deadline!!! Sunday, December 20, at midnigh (which is GMT-5 time).
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