This post first appeared in a slightly different form on Junta42. It is reprinted with permission.

About a month ago, we brought home our first pet…a guinea pig that the boys named Phary (pronounced Ferry).

After the initial adjustment week, a routine developed.  The boys would get Phary out of her cage in the morning and right before bedtime.  As one of us walked over to get Phary out of her cage, she would place herself in the left corner of the cage so we could easily grasp her and carry her out.  All was right with the world.

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This post first appeared in a slightly different form on Junta42. It is reprinted with permission.

I had an amazing conversation last week with an agency that was trying to convince their client to invest in a content marketing program.  Just to give you the quick take, the client’s goal was to reach certain consumer segments in the southeastern states.  They had a marketing budget of $2.5 million.

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One of the reasons I love my job is the different kinds of people I have the opportunity to interact with. Over the past year, I’ve met with entrepreneurs, thought leaders, agency executives, top marketers, social media gurus, publishing veterans, authors and others—all with particular insights and challenges about how to sell more, do more and be more.

If 2008 was the year social media went mainstream, 2009 should be the year of content marketing, the corporation as media company, the brand as publisher and broadcaster. Why? Because everyone of those incredibly intelligent people I met with, in some way or another, told me that the difference for brands who make it versus those that don’t will be relevance. How can we, as brands, be relevant to our customers? How can we create and develop real relationships with them? How do we engage?

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