WTH is LOB?

This is a post about acronyms and how I don’t like them.

Today I was looking at a report that had a page of charts with the term LOB all over it. LOB is a new acronym for me. So, I did what anyone would do in this case – I Googled it.

According to Acronym Finder, there are 33 different definitions of LOB.

How is this a useful acronym for people to use? I’m still not sure which version the author meant in the original report. Based on context, I think it probably stood for line of business. But who knows, it could stand for Loaf Of Bread or Lazy Old B*stard.

One of my favorite acronym stories comes from my first job. My coworker used to be in the Army and we were working on a government contract, trying to decipher all of the acronyms the organization used. He told me that in the Army, they referred to cars that the soldiers owned themselves as “POVs” or Personally Owned Vehicles. So, yes, instead of calling something a one syllable word like car or truck, it became the three-syllable POV.
Sometimes acronyms can be a bunch of BS, or if you prefer, a Load Of Bull.

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I feel honored…

…to be in the top 5% most-viewed profiles on LinkedIn.

How does that old saying go… “You’re one in a million!” Except that there are 200 million LinkedIn profiles. And I am one in ten million.

I mean, I’m not even that good at math and I know that it’s not special.

There are 313,914,040 people living in the US. 6,021,988 live in Missouri. If I were trying to be all elitist, I could just share with my colleagues, friends and family on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook that: “I am one of the top 1.9% of Missourians living in the US!”

So sorry to the other 99% of Americans who don’t live in Missouri and my apologies to the other 95% of LinkedIn users who didn’t get a dumb email to blog about.

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Hairspray on the dry erase board, who knew?

We all do it from time to time, leaving dry erase marker on the dry erase board too long. Then when the time comes, no matter how hard to try to wipe it off, the marker will not come off. Spraying water on it is futile.

Google to the rescue!

I searched “how to clean dry erase board stains” and found a tutorial that said to first try 1 part vinegar/3 parts water. I sprayed it on and scrubbed with a rag. It maybe removed 40% of the marker. In school, 40% is still an F.

The next step on the tutorial said to spray hairspray on the dry erase board, wait a few seconds, then wipe it off with a paper towel. SUCCESS!

Afterwards, I just wiped the board clean with a damp rag to remove the stickiness.

The secret to the hair spray success is its alcohol content. I would also venture to say that the tackiness also helps pick up the marker off the board.

So next time you accidentally leave the marker on the board too long, you can impress your coworkers with this little secret. You’re welcome.

 

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Filed under Helpful Tips, Random but Fun

Testing 1, 2, 3!

Quick post tonight to relish in the glory that is live A/B testing. Sorry if it’s nerdy of me, but I’m really excited to be working on projects that involve live A/B testing. As to not skew any results, I won’t say any more. But I will go clear my cookies and click my favorites over and over again…. just kidding!

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Advertise Yourself

With DATING CARDS!

Can you imagine the reaction “Chad” would get handing these out to the lucky ladies at the bar?

“Here’s my dating card.”

“Umm… thanks.”

“Oh, it’s not weird… I swear. I didn’t even pay for them. I got 250 free on the Internet.”

“Right”

“So can I buy you a Jagerbomb?”

“No.”

Poor VistaPrint is running out of use case scenarios for their online advertising.

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Filed under advertising, Interactive, interactive marketing, Random but Fun

Navigating a Vague Corporate Social Media Policy

You may have noticed this blog has been unfortunately blank for most of the last year. Aside from general negligence, I have been contemplating my company’s vague social media policy, which states there is to be no use of social media for business purposes. The primary reason for this ban has been the lack of precedent or monitoring capabilities in the highly-regulated financial services industry.

That’s about all I have to say or will comment about as far as social media and work are concerned, because, well, I can’t use social media for business purposes.

Safe to say that so long as I’m not talking shop on Facebook or drumming up business anywhere other than my standard issue email address and phone number, I can blog about my personal interactions with social and digital media in the field of online marketing. Right?

No, seriously. Tell me I’m right. Tell me I can write about cool new work or perplexing issues in the interactive marketing realm so long as it doesn’t mention my day job.

Please tell me you agree.

I’ve seen some companies that ask their employees to include a disclaimer that says that their opinions and words are not representative of the company for which they are employed. Other companies have multi-page acceptable use policies. Or, in the case of my previous employer, there was no policy at all… other than don’t do anything dumb.

So while a more formal social media policy is in the works at work, I will try to err on the side of caution while still trying to be a productive member of blogging society.

In the mean time, please tell me what you think about the intersection of personal and occupational social media use.

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Filed under Career, Commentary, social media

Review: ANA Mobile Marketing Day

Earlier this spring, I had the opportunity to attend an ANA Mobile Marketing Day, hosted by Sprint. I was excited to go because I have worked on a lot of websites, but I haven’t had the opportunity to work on a mobile site yet. Mobile marketing is an interesting topic for me, because it is such a personal medium. Everyone interacts with their phones differently… but how many people do you know that sleep with their phones within 2 feet?

The ANA is an organization comprised mostly of in-house marketing and advertising departments from very well known American companies. The organization provides a wealth of resources on its website including research and presentations from other members and hosts conferences year round, all over the country. This was my first time attending an ANA event.

So needless to say, it was a great opportunity to attend the conference and hear presentations from some very popular consumer brands. My favorite part of the conference was hearing case studies from the companies that experienced the challenges (and successes) of implementing mobile marketing projects. Honestly, I was astounded by the openness of these companies to share this experiences with everyone.

My absolute favorite part of the day was hearing about H&R Block’s mobile app development. The presenter did a great job of recalling the ins and outs of the project and providing very useful “lessons learned.”

My least favorite part was hearing from the agencies that presented. I got the impression that some of the presenters were talking down to the attendees as they spoke about how to develop a mobile strategy and things to consider when undertaking a mobile marketing project. I am extra sensitive to this because the first thing I look for when working with a vendor is the potential for partnership. Any given agency might know more about their product or technology, but it’s important to me that I can collaborate with them to make the best possible project.

Now that the conference is over and I am working on a presentation to share with my colleagues, I am chomping at the bit to work on mobile projects!

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