“Back to school. Back to school, to prove to Dad that I'm not a fool. I got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight. Ohhhh, back to school. Back to school. Back to school. Well, here goes nothing.” — Billy Madison

It has been a few weeks since the new school year started. Elementary students receive their teacher’s name and supplies list, while college students receive their syllabus and assignments for the first semester of classes.

I have been pretty “hot” on infographs as of late. As a visual learner, the graphical essence of an infograph helps, in many cases, illustrate an idea and/or a point. Not to mention it is a unique and interactive way to present information. I have seen many infographs, from research driven ones to ones that have a purely humorous angle with no education purpose at all. Yet, they are both considered infographs and both have a distinct purpose or objective.

I was playing Scrabble the other day and it dawned on me that the same strategies I used while playing are applicable to the development of a marketing strategy for a client. In Scrabble, you have to create words with letters selected at random. You have to manage them carefully and decide which placement gives you the best competitive advantage. You might not always start out with the letters you want, and sometimes realize you are short one letter needed for the perfect word, but, in the end, your goal is to earn the most points with the tiles you have.

Simply because your title doesn’t say Marketing Strategist or Director of Strategy does not mean you should sit on your hands and not suggest strategic solutions to your internal and external clients. Consider this for example:

A couple of weeks ago, a friend a mine asked me if he could pick my brain about developing his website. After talking for a while, I realized the questions he was asking were probably common for many professional service marketers as well. While he understood the basics of developing a website, his questions were more about the big picture and what makes an effective website.

This past week Katie, my eight-year-old daughter, accidently opened a package that had a Christmas present enclosed from Santa Claus. I thought it was her annual Christmas ornament. (D’oh! on my part).