Traditions

Since 1677 Virginia's Indian tribes have presented the governor with wild game in lieu of taxes. The ceremony is held on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving at the Governor's Mansion and this year I attended. It was very special and meaningful, with several tribes represented. Over the years the meaning behind the event has evolved to represent a mutual respect among the various people who live in Virginia.

At MBM, we have traditions too. From storytime and Catch Phrase to champagne toasts and quarterly outings. Each of these provides us new opportunities to get to know each other and respect our differences and special talents.

I think next year we're going to add this Native American tribute to our outing plans. And in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I continue to be thankful for all the MBM family - clients, staff, vendors, spouses, friends and families.

More Budgeting!

So, it's that time of year when our clients are starting to think, "Where did 2009 go?" They then start thinking about all the things they will need to have planned for 2010.

This is where MBM comes in.

We had a few big meetings last week with some of our clients, mostly to discuss next year's marketing initiatives. I'd like to say that we have things pretty organized when it comes to budget discussions. And we know our clients appreciate the work that we put in to develop a firm budget for them to follow for the year.

It also looks like we'll be busy planning some large campaigns for one of our banking clients - some fun checking account promotions and Grand Openings. Get excited for 2010!

Champ-agne!

We're knocking off at 4:30 today to pop a cork of bubbly. It's a celebration of a new client, Kelly's 2 year anniversary at MBM, the launch of a fabulous new website for another client, Richard's birthday and, oh, because it's Wednesday. We try to celebrate whenever we can - birthdays, anniversaries, new clients, awards and sometimes just because we made it through the day. Because I'm a sentimental nerd, I save all the corks and write the date and reason for celebration on them. I have no idea what we'll ever do with them. But sometimes it's just nice to look through them and remember all our accomplishments, and all our celebrations together. Sentimental? Yes. Corny? Yes. MBM? Yes!

New website?

Creating websites for our clients has become a mainstay service that MBM provides. Whether it's a website for a new company, a new website to replace an outdated one, or offering a copy/graphics/usability refresh to an existing site, we've done it all. And now it's time to tackle the website of the toughest client of all - ourselves!

We're having a team meeting later today to review our website for some new flavor. Our site's been good to us these past few years. But, like any company, our message, along with our style, evolves over time. Plus, with some of the good-looking websites we've been creating for our clients, we can't help but itch for a new site as well.

A sampling of brand new client sites from 2009...

::Solid Ground Yoga
::Riverstone General Contractors
::Virginia Partners Bank


MBM's loved our website's bright colors and celebrities with their well-appointed quotes - but it's time for something new. Stay tuned...

Working Through

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So I've taken up Ashtanga Yoga (that is not me in the photo by the way) and it's making a big difference in a lot of ways. I'm more fit, losing weight, more relaxed and centered.

But it's also a constant challenge. Trying to find time to practice daily is tough with my schedule. And I'm finding my body has a weekly response to the poses.

But as I've found that I'm committed (maybe addicted) to the practice, I find that I can continue to work through the challenges and come out stronger and healthier on the other side.

It's the same way with the challenges we face at MBM - being creative, keeping a work/life balance and managing a business in this economy. And our clients are challenged as well. Maybe you are too.

My advice? Keep working through it!

Planning Meetings and Budgets

It's that time of the year again - time to take out the old budget, polish it up and make it shiny for 2010. Some people dread this type of stuff but I enjoy a good budget. Particularly when I'm working with clients who really use it as a planning device for the year.

One of the key things we deliver here at MBM is a full view of the overall marketing plan. We like to get into organizations and really understand what their goals are, how they might best reach them, and what it will cost. Understanding what we've got to work with and what we're working towards is really helpful to get the most out of our clients' budgets. And I don't mean that as in help MBM get the most - sure we want to make money but its not about us!

I like budgets so much that I have a worksheet I update monthly that categorizes all of my family's expenditures for the month. It's a bit of a sickness.

So if you need budget help (personal or professional) call me! I love to make people get organized.

Family Feud!

We just finished some sales training for a client today and had a great time! It was a great time effort internally with Courtney finding prizes, Kelly creating the boards and Megan coordinating it all. We used the Family Feud game concept and found it really engaged our clients and helped them think about the topic in a fun and interesting way.

Not everything we do is fun, but whenever we can we find ways to make it fun.

And the client's new website is launching later this week. Megan has been intimately involved in it, and Jason did gorgeous design work. Kudos to Ben for copy and Marcus for quick turnaround programming! I"m sure Megan will blog more about it soon.

I'm crazy about teamwork and how we work as a team here. No feuding, just family!