Gratitude for Digital Marketing Tools and Clients

In October, there is a focus on shutting down the garden, carving pumpkins and eating candy corn. But after everyone is done with the monsters, witches and zombies of Halloween, everyone’s attention turns to the activities of November, and some just want to skip right to December.

This year in particular, I’ve noticed that there is a fight for attention on what comes next. There are many who are eager for the Christmas season to begin. My daughter’s choral group is practicing carols for her Christmas concert, which has brought early Christmas cheer. A senior living center near my house put up their two-story high bedazzled and ribboned artificial Christmas tree on November 1. And of course, this year with the highly contentious elections, there have been lots of commercials on both sides, filling the airwaves with criticism, vitriol, accusation and anger. With the country so split on how best to move forward, it seems hard to imagine how we will heal the divide and come together as a nation.

But at this time, I want to pause the discussions of the winners and losers and hold Christmas at bay for just a little while longer so we can focus on Thanksgiving. This holiday asks us to focus on gratitude, one of life’s most essential qualities. It leaps across ethnic lines, religious differences and partisan politics to include everyone in its embrace.

Thanksgiving is a time for all of us to stop and think about what we are grateful for and the blessings in our lives. Here are five big things I’m grateful for:

#1: My Clients:

My clients fill my “to do” list every day, requiring time to ensure that webpages are updated, blog post a written, and email campaigns are analyzed. But that’s not what I’m grateful for. I’m grateful for the business challenges they provide, the thinking that provokes, the perpetual push for better and better results and the friendships that grow out of the struggles for those greater results.

#2: My Colleagues

While I am the lead for all of my client’s activities, I don’t do it all alone. I have technical experts on search engine optimization, copywriting, HTML coding, graphic design and email automation. I value their expertise and their contributions to making beautiful email layouts and website pages that appear on page one of Google.

#3: Digital marketing tools

Since I am a strategist, I spend a lot of time thinking about the strategies to build business for my clients. And for the most part, those strategies are timeless (deliver the right message at the right time to the right audience through the right vehicles).

But the tools were used to deliver those strategies continue to change dramatically. I can monitor my SEO ranking on a moment by moment basis and use email and social media tools to get a relevant message to thousands of followers in an instant. Pretty cool.

#4: Continuous Learning

Because the tools of the trade are ever-changing, I get to learn how businesses can use Snapchat or how building a database with e-books can lead to quicker sales. My clients have seen the tangible results of that learning, and it’s fun to bring them those results. I love reviewing the results and coming up with ideas for ways to do even more next time.

#5: America

For all the ugliness of this election cycle, I still feel blessed to live in America. I believe in the ideal our forefathers struggled to create, the inherent checks and balances created by having three branches of government and the freedom of the press that is meant to keep the people who work in those three branches honest. I believe in the American dream and feel privileged to be a part of helping my clients innovate in their respective industries and grow their businesses.

No matter where you live, no matter what your political affiliation, race or religion, everyone can stop and give gratitude for what is in their lives. If you are reading this, then you are a part of my life, and I’m so grateful for that. Thank you for being a part of my world.

May you have a Thanksgiving season overflowing with gratitude.