Many people are apprehensive when they visit a doctor for the first time. It is comforting to them when they have been referred by a relative or friend who is already a satisfied patient. This was the case recently when a new patient seen in our office mentioned that you recommended us.

That's the start to a really nice letter I received from chiropractor Beth Adams Spencer after sending a yoga-injured patient her way. (I know it's funny, but he was really hurting.)

Dr. Spencer has lots of neat client correspondence. In this case, I'm not even a client, but she thought to send her regards anyway. It's efforts like this that keep small businesses front-of-mind to clients and potential clients, especially while consumers in general are starting to be more mindful of where they spend their pennies.

Three cheers for Dr. Spencer!

        

During the first-ever Clinton County Fest on Saturday, April 19, area business leaders and community members will be able to interact and learn about all of the educational and employment opportunities available to them. Also during the free event, freelance writer, editor, and media relations consultant Lisa Munniksma will be among the presenters with two interactive sessions for attendees and vendors.

At 1:15, Networking: Marketing Yourself will explore networking ideas and how the process of networking can improve career and business opportunities. At 2:15, Promoting Your Business will assist small business owners with options for effectively marketing their ...

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Just wanted to direct you to the April 11 issue of Doug Emerson's "Profitable Horseman" newsletter.

In writing about the impact that today's economy is having on the equine industry, Doug inquired about what we're experiencing in Indiana. I was happy to provide some input that's less depressing than what's being heard from mainstream news outlets, although I believe the outlook can be described best as cautiously optimistic.

        

My horse Rooster and I had a great time at Linda Black's "Softer Side of Horsemanship" clinic this weekend at Cross 9 Ranch. I arrived on Friday afternoon along with my friend Susan. We quickly found ourselves helping out with farm chores, and soon after that, I stumbled upon the fodder for this blog post.

We were asked to move several horses to different pastures and to bring one horse back to the barn. No problem. With a few decades of horse experience between us, certainly we're over-qualified for leading around a few horses. We sent the first group of horses to their new locations without a hitch.

The original instructions for the second group of horses was that we were to put the mares that were in the paddock on the side of the barn in another larger pasture. We were supposed to leave Roy, the Palomino gelding, in that lot. We headed outside and looked at the three horses there. I knew all but one: CJ, Dolly, and a Palomino horse. I didn't think the Palomino was Roy, and I asked Susan, "Is that a gelding?" She said yes, so I figured it'd just been a while since I saw these horses (it had been since the fall, at least).

We delivered the two mares we knew and checked in again to see if there was anything else we could help with. We were asked why we didn't move the Palomino horse.

"Isn't that Roy," we both asked. Nope. The horse we left in the paddock was a mare. Roy is a gelding. Someone else already took care of him.

When I asked her about the gelding, Susan thought I asked whether Roy was a gelding, not whether that horse in the paddock was a gelding. How simple is that miscommunication? I thought I was clear in my question; but she gave me the answer to the question she thought I was asking. It's amazing how many times communication glitches like that happen with our horses, our customers, and our family and friends.

The good thing about horses, family, and friends is they (most) always forgive you; customers don't always forgive.

        

I write for a really wide variety of publications, and I love the range of assignments they provide. Every day and every article is different. I also love the reputation that many of these publications hold.

Just yesterday, I received an e-mail from my editor at Lafayette Magazine saying the publication took third place in the Best of Gannett competition. This magazine is only a year old, but it's been well received in the community, and now it's being recognized by the industry.

Last year, Hoof Beats magazine won the General Excellence award for Association or Subsidized Magazine(circulation under 15,000) from American Horse Publications. Barrel Horse News won General Excellence for Best Tabloid/Newspaper—admittedly, I wasn't writing for them during this awards period, but it's exciting, nonetheless. Equine Veterinary Management received a General Excellence honorable mention for Self-Supported Magazine (circulation under 15,000). Western Horseman received a General Excellence honorable mention as Self-Supported Magazine (circulation 15,000 and over)—again, I started writing for them just this year.

There are other measures of merit that are worth paying more attention to, most important being reader and source satisfaction—getting the story right and making it useful. This week, I got a note from someone whose business we profiled in The Indianapolis Star's "Suburban Homescape" section. She offered to send a small token of appreciation. We don't accept gifts, but her thanks was a nice reward.

        

I am thankful to have had the opportunity to speak about image building and word-of-mouth marketing at the "Marketing Made Easy" seminar in Plymouth, Ind., on Tuesday. We had a good turnout of agricultural-business owners who wanted to learn how to better inform the public of the products and services they provide. I love talking with groups like this because their businesses are literally their lives. These folks are hungry for this kind of information.

I was taken by the passion they all exhibited for their businesses. In the beginning, the coordinator asked everyone to go around the room and tell us ...<< MORE >>

My husband and I recently joined a fitness center. We paid approximately an arm, a leg, and the promise of our first-born child for the privilege of sweating off our tails for the next two years. After a few weeks of attending, Brad remarked that their customer service isn't the best. I agreed, but then, of all of the gyms I've ever belonged to, I've never found customer service to be a priority.

Just this week, we received our permanent membership cards in the mail. It's funny that I have a monster last name, which was spelled correctly, while Brad's last ...<< MORE >>

Huge thank you to my friend Karen who sent along this link to a New York Times article. It's possible only big writing geeks (sorry, Karen) like us would get a kick out of it. "Celebrating the Semicolon in a Most Unlikely Location" is a full story about semicolon use on New York City Transit signage. It's fantastic—both the article and the agency's use of punctuation.

In an even geekier twist of irony, the article quotes "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" author Lynne Truss but mispunctuates the title of her book. If you've read that book—and you really ...<< MORE >>

According to the 2002 United States Department of Agriculture Census, Indiana had 3,205 farm with direct sales valued at $17,968,000. That's a lot of carrots!

Recognizing that sellers and direct-to-consumer producers need to seek new ways to market their farm products, Purdue Extension and the Purdue New Ventures Team put together "Marketing Made Easy," a day-long seminar to assist them in creating a successful marketing plan.


When: March 18, 2008, from 9-4


Where: Marshall County Extension Office in Plymouth, Indiana


Cost: $20; additional members from the same operation or family are $10. Cost includes handouts, refreshments, and Indiana Resource Guide for Agritourism


Schedule:
8:30-9:00  Registration

Program: It Begins with You
9:00-9:15  Welcome and introductions
9:15-9:30  Marketing 101: What is it, really?
9:30-9:45  Creating your Marketing Action Plan
9:45-10:30  Locally Grown...Organic...Why Buys What? 
                    By Kris Parker, Purdue Extension Educator in Economic and Community Development, Porter County
10:30-11:00  Break
11:00-11:15  Creating your Elevator Statement
                      By Kelly Easterday, Purdue Extension Educator in Agriculture and Natural Resources, Kosciusko County

Program: A Promotional Campaign that Results in Sales
11:15-12:15  Garden of Image
                      By Lisa Munniksma, freelance writer and marketing consultant
12:15-1:00  Lunch
1:00-2:00  Build Better Buzz: Word of mouth marketing
                  By Lisa Munniksma, freelance writer and marketing consultant
2:00-2:15  Break
2:15-2:30  Indiana Market Maker program
2:30-3:30  Where are you Going and How will you get There?
                  By Jennifer Dennis, Purdue Extension, via IP video
3:30  Review your Marketing Action Plan


Check out full details and registration info in the Marketing Made Easy brochure.


Registrations are due by March 12! Contact Kelly Easterday at 574-372-2340 or keasterday@purdue.edu.

        

Who doesn't love digital photography? The technology has become inexpensive enough that it's available to the masses. It's become low-tech enough that anyone can learn to use it. There's no film, so there's no worry that it's going to cost you a fortune to develop your images (until, of course, you actually decide to develop your images).
 
That question isn't hypothetical, though: Who doesn't love digital photography? Editors and writers like me who have to deal with people who don't understand digital photography.

I'm sometimes asked to gather photos for the stories I write. Sometimes it's a matter of just going to my barn and taking pictures with my Canon 20D. That's easy enough, it's fun, and I'll know I'll get the shots I want. I don't love digital photography, though, when I have to work with sources and product reps who don't understand the resolution requirements of the publications I work with. Here's a quick tutorial, in case you're not familiar:

Photos are actually made up of teeny-tiny colored dots. When you publish a website, you can use very low resolution photos, and they look just fine because of the configuration of computer screen resolution. When we print photos in a publication—magazine, newspaper, brochure—the photos need to have so many dots per inch (dpi) in order to print crisp and correct. The minimum resolution for most of the publications I work with is 300 dpi. Lower than that, and Foxy's face will be fuzzy.

People who don't know the difference tend to set their digital cameras on the lowest setting. They figure that the images will be easier to work with (smaller files e-mail easier and upload to websites faster), and they realize they can get more images on a photo card because lower quality photos consume less memory. What they end up with is a lot of tiny, fuzzy images for personal use. What I end up with is nothing that's suitable to print.

High resolution, folks, is the way to go! Just spend the extra money on the larger memory card. Better yet, buy two in case one of them fails. And please, please don't argue with me when I ask for a better-quality image. I'm usually not knocking your photography skills; I'm just looking for something that's suitable to print. I'm not making up this 300 dpi rule, I swear.

There'll be more on this, as patience allows. I can only take so much low-res talk in one day before I start cursing.