If you ever built a house, you understand the importance of designing the structure or floor plan with an architect before laying the foundation. If you are an attorney, you understand the importance of doing some discovery about your client and case before presenting to a judge.

GUEST BLOGGER: Cheryl Bame, Principal - Bame Public Relations 

Many professionals want to see their names in print, either by being quoted in the press or by writing a bylined article. If you want to take the latter route, then there are some important questions you need to ask yourself before you set out to write your masterpiece. And these questions go beyond the traditional tasks of identifying your target publication and getting your topic approved by an editor.

Despite sweeping changes in the print landscape, the debate of whether print is dead will be around ad infinitum and has created a riot of controversy between print literary aficionados and bloggers, not to mention panic in the publishing and printing industry. In this decade alone, there has been a monumental shift in having access to online content. It's immediate and informative, but it's only one of several delivery methods. For economical and sustainability reasons, many publications have gone to a strictly online presence.

So I guess you figured out by now, that no one really has the magic bullet. But there are a few things that you, the marketing professional, can do this year to help make your firm successful. And seriously, if there were such a formula that produced marketing results, then that would probably negate any need for our strategic services. Don't you think?

Besides going to the gym and trying not be such an agressive driver, here are 5 new year's resolutions we can all shoot for this year.

It’s that time of year again. Your desk and inbox are flooded with holiday cards. I know there are folks who have very strong feelings about whether or not print or digital is the best medium to send thanks and best wishes at holiday time. Personally, I feel like both can be done well. The problem is few ARE actually done well. The majority of cards I see—be they paper or pixil—are utterly generic and impersonal. And what does that say about how you view your relationship with the recipient?