Networking made easier for Introverts

By Ann Smith | Aug 5, 2014

Does the thought of networking make you anxious? Nervous? As an introvert and recent college graduate I have experienced the anxieties that comes from networking with business professionals. I know the importance of gaining these valuable connections to grow in my career, but that never makes it easier to walk into a room full of […]

Read More

Jennifer Huston, the "Missing Person"

By Ann Smith | Aug 1, 2014

For the past week I’ve becoming increasingly consumed with the ongoing search for Dundee woman Jennifer Huston.  On the outskirts of Portland, Dundee and neighboring Newberg where she was last seen are quite close to where I live in Tualatin and my kids went to school in Sherwood. I am not here to speculate or […]

Read More

Be Brief or Be Ignored

By Ann Smith | Jul 23, 2014

This week’s Fast Company Leadership quote comes from Joseph McCormack, author of Brief: Making a Bigger Statement by Saying Less. Despite the irony that this man wrote an entire book on brevity, its a message I find valuable today. Today was the day I broke my iPhone and have reverted back to a non-smart phone. I […]

Read More

Sports Metaphors Lost in Translation

By Ann Smith | Jul 18, 2014

With the FIFA World Cup behind us, I’d like to turn your attention to the sports metaphors that pop up again and again in all types of business communications. These are often misused or misunderstood in presentations and company newsletters or mailings alike, often because the recipient does not follow organized sports or grew up […]

Read More

Eye-opening Always ad redefines the #LikeaGirl stereotype

By Ann Smith | Jul 9, 2014

The ad was uploaded to the Always YouTube on June 26th and has received over 30 million views all over the world. After watching the video though it makes you think, aren’t we over the #LikeaGirl insult? “I don’t think we are past the ‘run like a girl’ stereotype. Look at the women in this […]

Read More

A Rose by Any Other Name…

By Ann Smith | Jul 1, 2014

You might end up calling your marketing and PR efforts by an entirely different name if the rest of the industry follows Procter & Gamble’s lead in renaming its overall marketing organization “Brand Management.” According to Ad Age, the new department now includes the functions the rest of us are still calling marketing, market research, […]

Read More

Need a Quick Laugh? Twitter Now Supports GIFs

By Ann Smith | Jun 19, 2014

You can celebrate! Twitter announced yesterday that it will support animated GIFs on Twitter as well as on its Iphone and Android mobile apps. To be technical, the letters “GIF” actually stand for “Graphics Interchange Format,” which is a compressed image file format that can be quickly transmitted over a network or the Internet. In […]

Read More

Small Businesses Benefit from Small Size, Authenticity

By Ann Smith | Jun 18, 2014

Living in Oregon, we are fortunate to be able to identify the provenance of many of the products we use and the produce and meats we consume. More so than anywhere else I’ve lived, there’s the ability to shop locally, with any number of locally owned and run businesses and services complementing the offerings of […]

Read More

Drew Carney Goes Viral

By Ann Smith | Jun 17, 2014

For those of us in Portland, Drew Carney is a bit of a TV superstar. You might get ready in the morning while watching his antics, or catch him emceeing the annual Kells Smoker at the St. Patrick’s Day Irish Festival; however this week he cemented his place in national, viral infamy.  To try to […]

Read More

Infographic: PR Then & Now

By Ann Smith | Jun 5, 2014

When it comes to effective communications, PR professionals tend to be the experts. That is what I love most about this industry. We are constantly one step ahead adapting to the ever-changing communication landscape. I came across the below infographic, PR Then & Now, from Inkhouse that is a great reminder of how our industry continues […]

Read More

Which Words Made the Cut?

By Ann Smith | May 28, 2014

The influence of technology and social networking in our world couldn’t be more obvious with these  150 new definitions recently added to the dictionary by Merriam Webster, including “hashtag,” “selfie” and “tweep.” hashtag n (2008): a word or phrase preceded by the symbol # that classifies or categorizes the accompanying text, such as a tweet selfie […]

Read More

The Power of a Hashtag

By Ann Smith | May 27, 2014

On ongoing Twitter conversation is designed to draw attention to harassment, discrimination and violence experienced by women. Categorized under the hashtag #YesAllWomen, hundreds of thousands of women have shared their stories of date rape, misogyny and other examples of what women fear at the hands of some men, even if not all men (see also: […]

Read More