Saw the original picture on 9GAG and thought I’d write it out for everyone to admire. You might be in trouble if you’ve ever heard any of these, trust me!

1. Fine

   This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up

2. Five Minutes

   If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been giver five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

3. Nothing

   This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

4. Go Ahead

   This is a dare, not permission. Don’t Do It!

5. Loud Sigh

   This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood my men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing.

6. That’s Okay

   This is one of the most dangerous statements a woman can make to a man. That’s okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

7. Thanks

   A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you’re welcome. (I want to add in a clause here – This is true, unless she says “Thank a lot” – that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say “you’re welcome”, that will bring on a “whatever“).

8. Whatever

   Is a woman’s way of saying F- YOU!

9. Don’t worry about it, I got it

   Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking “What’s wrong?” For the woman’s response refer to #3.

B2B customers are no different from B2C: fed up with companies that have grown detached from them, they are likely to favor companies that make an effort to connect with them and engage in dialogue and knowledge-sharing.

While your business needs should drive the approach your organization takes to blogging, in B2B industry CEO of Executive blogs are typically the best way to go. The New PR website contains a list of more than 270 blogs by senior executives around the world. Although the list hasn’t been updated since 2008, here are just a few examples of executives who blog:

• Randy Tinseth, VP Marketing of Boeing (Randy’s Journal)
• Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Jonathan’s Blog)
• Bob Lutz, CEO of General Motors (FastLane Blog)
• Hu Yoshida, VP and CTO at Hitachi Data Systems (Hu’s Blog)
• Bill Marriott, CEO of Marriott International (Marriott on the move)

Don’t panic, who authors an official company blog or CEO blog isn’t important. I would seriously doubt Bill Gates or James Skinner spend all day blogging about their companies and responding to all the comments and emails. However, those blogs offer executives a channel to share their perspectives and talk about issues facing the company. Hearing from company’s leaders and executives, people charged with a power to make highest-level decisions and planning corporate strategy, can make the whole organization stand out, heighten the perception of transparency and enhance reader’s ability to comment. Think about it this way: customers feel they can get in direct touch with the top dogs and project their opinions and questions. Giving your customers a voice will in turn engage them with your brand and eradicate much of the skepticism about your organization. Yes, we said skepticism. Customers have grown more distant from brand, having lower levels of trust in both B2B and B2C. But can you blame them with business practices of WorldCom and Enron, car recalls, Chinese lead-filled children’s toys, outsourced customer service, bank failures and government bailouts? Having a transparent company or CEO blog will set you apart in the eyes of customers who are used to companies not caring what they wants, not talking to them and trying to rob them blind for every cent.

Remember, a CEO blog is much different from a CEO’s letter to shareholders or annual report. While you may be able to cut some corners and repurpose content from your reports and internal news for your blog, keep in mind the differences between the two. An annual report appears once a year (unless your organization is doing quarterly reports), the writing is usually formal and blend, and pages are full of numbers, charts and graphs. Such reports usually addresses broad array of issues and gives strategic recommendations and projections. More importantly, there is no way to respond to it. A blog, on the other hand, will appear frequently and focus on a specific issue. The writing is more authentic and candid, opinions are welcome, and of course audience can comment on any posts.

Take a look at the blog from General Motors‘ Blog. Here is a review of GM’s recent posts:

• A piece on Chevrolet team donating year’s supply of diapers, new car seats and other baby supplies to a customer who gave birth while driving GM made vehicle
• A webchat about with the winner of EcoCar NeXt Challenge – a GM sponsored event
• A piece about strong auto sales and continued growth in May
• An item about GM’s green initiative and what it means to be green
• GM’s announcement to repay government loans and its future plans for plant investments

Let’s look at another blog from Boeing’s CEO:

• Firm’s progress on the new 787-9 Dreamliner jet
• An article talking about recent World Trade Organization ruling about company’s biggest  competitor Airbus and what that means for Boeing
• A series of hot weather test flights for a Boeing 747-8
• Blog talking about the importance of airplane inspections and Boeing’s stance on safety

Customers and investors alike are more willing to do business with a company whose leaders are displaying though-leadership, expertise and candidly addressing topics and issues about which customers are interested.

Even if you’re not an advertising or marketing professional, you probably realize that marketers use different kinds of appeals to relate the company’s message to its consumers. Some of those appeals are emotional, other are sex-appeals, rational, social, music, scarcity, adventure appeals and many others. Truth is – all humans have needs, weather it’s clothes, food, shelter or comfort. While those necessities cannot be created with a TV ad, advertiser’s job is to make us aware of our needs and persuade to use a certain product.

Different products require the use of different appeals, depending on the type of product and the customer demographic. Most ads, however, divide into two main categories: emotional appeal and rational appeal. Rational-based commercial will try to present a clear sales argument and facts hoping that customer’s logical progression will lead them to a specific product. Think of a computer commercial or a new drug that give you facts and benefits. Emotional-based marketing is related to an individual’s psychological and social needs for purchasing certain products and services. Many consumers are emotionally motivated or driven to make certain purchases. Well, this blog is to show you one example of such emotional advertising and to get your feedback. Does this make you want to purchase this product?

Without further ado: A deaf girl learns to play the violin. Beautiful and moving Pantene TV commercial.

If this ad doesn’t give you chills, you have antifreeze for blood.

Ever sat through a boring presentation? I know I have. Slide after slide, graph after graph – in the end they are all the same. Remember that stats class when the professor put up all those graphs and flowcharts desperately trying to explain the significance of p-value?

Well here is Doug Zongker’s (University of Washington) take on PowerPoint presentations. If you miss any important slides, you can also look at this PDF.

This is what happens when you put all your eggs in one basket.

Yaaay! Solyak Marketing & Creativeis ready for it’s official Launch! We’ve been working hard for the last four months trying to get all the scripts, graphics, content, forms, etc. to work and today we can finally take a deep breath and relax.

The site still has a couple of things that need tweaking and updating like the Portfolio section since not all of our work is there. Please help us making this website awesome and report any bugs or suggestions on how to improve it.

You can also connect with us though several different ways. Add us as friend:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Flickr
• LinkedIn

YouTube and FourSquare accounts will be added soon.

So what is this Blog about? Here you’ll find information on a variety of topics ranging from tips on social media, web design, graphic design and blogging. You’ll find reviews of latest trends in marketing and advertising as well as newest technology. You will also find viral videos and great resources for young professionals, or just plain silly stuff for you entertainment. Make sure to leave a comment on my posts.

Keep on checking back for great content, and if you need a professional web design for your business, let us help you with that.

* Special thanks for Jami Gibbs, Matt Brennan and Sean Clark for all the help with this website!