Our oldest son plays baseball in the North Arlington Little League. Last year, his team, the Pirates, had an undefeated season and won the championship game. Of course, we celebrated the win.

Players moved up and on, but we returned for another season. It started out smoothly enough – the games were competitive, but the team was winning. Then we had a tied game. Then we lost.

No big deal, right?

Wrong.

We celebrated the wins, we worked for the wins, we appreciated the wins. However, we neglected to prepare for the possibility of a loss. For two years, the team was coached and played to win. We should have also been coached and prepared to lose.

There is value in the lessons we learn from losing and sports give us a good arena to teach these lessons to our children.

These are valuable lessons that can be applied in parenting, business and life:

• Respect.
  For every winner, there is a loser. You have to respect both. Period. Respect your team, respect the other team. Act accordingly.
• Resiliency.
  It’s ok to be disappointed or upset after a loss. But the quicker you put a loss behind you, the closer you are to the next win. Fast recovery serves anyone at any age well. Vince Lombardi said, “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” Recover and move forward.
• Review.
  If you review the why in your losses and strengthen your weaknesses, new opportunities will arise. In sports no game has ever been lost the same way.
• Humility.
  Losing challenges us and keeps us humble. It teaches us there are others who are better. The emphasis should be motivated to be better.

Preparing for winning and losing is critical. It is far better to lose and learn than to always win and not learn how to lose. If winning and losing were not important, we would not keep score.

If you are a business owner, an employee, a student or a teammate, what do you have to lose?

An account, a promotion, an employee, a score, a game? The answer is yes, all of these and more. But the bigger question is – what are you learning and how are you improving?

So what about the 2016 Pirates? Well, they are heading to the championship game. They earned their spot with three consecutive wins in a double elimination playoff. Regardless of the outcome, valuable lessons will be learned. Go Pirates!

Everybody remembers the “make a wish” tale – you must choose wisely, as you only get three wishes, and the wishes must all be considered wisely. From this tale, we learn that we must be careful what we ask for.

I like to ask questions. Maybe too many, but questions always provide answers..unless you ask the wrong question. Have you ever asked the wrong question? Yes. You. Have. I have too!

Get it right! Ask the right question.

Good question asking is a skill and can be applied to all relationships – spouse, children, employee, employer, friends, customers, etc. The applications are endless. Every question can deepen our understanding of a topic or person. There is no such thing as a stupid question, but there are ways to ask a question that are better than others.

Here are some examples:

• Q: How was your day? A: good, bad, great, awesome, etc. This closed-ended question doesn’t really give you much, so follow up with what made your day _______? Now we are getting somewhere! Tip: Dig deeper with follow-up questions. Follow general questions with specific ones. 
• Q: How are sales? A: Great they have doubled! This general question can elicit an answer that can be misleading – sales doubled from what? Better question: How are your sales compared to this same timeframe last year? Tip: Make sure to ask for context and reference to give the answer meaning.
• Have you ever been asked if you want “anything else?” I hate this question. The answer is, of course I do, I have a long list of else, but you don’t sell them here. Another egregious offender: Did you find everything ok? Tip: Specific questions will garner more insight. Try to avoid yes or no questions unless they are truly satisfying a simple purpose.
• Recently my husband called me and informed me that he grounded the kids. I asked, “What does grounding mean in our house?” We figured out our definition of grounding because of an open-ended question. Tip: Have a purpose for asking and a desire to know the answer. Every question you ask should help you gather either facts or elicit an opinion. Know which kind of information you need and frame your questions accordingly.
• What if someone asked you if it was it sunny on the day you were born? I don’t know if it was sunny when I was born – does it matter? I can’t think of one thing someone would do with this information. Tip: Ask questions only if the information elicited is necessary. If you don’t really need the answer, don’t ask the question. Be respectful of people’s time and attention. Answer this – what will you do with the answer?

We ask questions because that is the way we improve, learn, connect and tell stories. Ask away, friends!

“Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.” ~ Tony Robbins

A few weeks back, our very own Rock Star, Vanessa Hickman, wrote a blog about how Photos Bring Your Brand to Life. She invoked the oft-used expression, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” And she’s right. So right. Images make us feel something. Want something. Want to be something.

We emotionally connect.

Powerful, relevant visual assets are hugely important in any marketing plan. Whatever the medium – photographs, videos, or infographics – compelling imagery makes people connect more, remember more, and engage more. Powerful images can stay with you for a lifetime.

It made me think, what imagery have I found most compelling throughout my life? What has moved me, stayed with me?

And so, drumroll please….here are my Top 5 Imagery Moments:

Farrah Fawcett’s Iconic Poster. It was the 70’s. I was just beginning to become aware of beauty and what that meant, and this Farrah Fawcett poster exemplified it for me. That hair. That smile. I wanted to look just like her. This poster was my first memory of being influenced by an image and all that it suggested.

Janet Jackson’s Pleasure Principle Video. It was the 80’s and this early video of Janet Jackson dancing alone in a warehouse struck such a chord with me, I watched it over and over and over again. She was strong and talented and beyond cool. Storytelling imagery in the form of video was taking over the world.

The 90’s Supermodels. You knew them so well you need only use their first names – Naomi. Linda. Tatjana. Christy. Cindy. They were impossibly beautiful, they ran in a pack, and they epitomized glamour in the 90’s. Everything they endorsed benefitted from the association. It was print media gone mad.

Carrie Bradshaw. I don’t know many women who don’t identify with the Sex & the City ladies, and for me, Carrie Bradshaw was my spirit animal. The styling was pure genius and every outfit told a story. The designers and brands that she wore on the show got tremendous exposure, and the world of product placement in film and television was exploding.

Misty Copeland’s Under Armour Commercial. A new decade and a new sensibility. Strength. Tenacity. Belief. And a seriously genius commercial with a tagline: “I will what I want.” I made my daughter watch it, I loved it so much. Watch it here. I defy you not to become inspired by this new breed of spokesman that is now becoming a brand ambassador.

It’s a whole new world of brand imagery.

So tell us, what imagery has spoken to you and why?

After you have done the heavy lifting and spent the necessary time and effort putting together your brand identity, don’t fall short when it comes to your message and execution. Make sure your content is relevant and captivating and then proceed to shout it from the mountaintops.

This is the time to fearlessly spread your message.

And we mean fearlessly.

It is not the time to vacillate. Go big or go home! You have a story to tell. Getting your brand message out is critical. You must believe that in your particular niche, you are the voice of authority.

This fearless quality is what can be the turning point to success – or not. Even if it takes some time to penetrate your consumer base, this confidence and conviction is what keeps you moving forward. The delivery and construction of your message may be refined over time, but it needs to be confident and consistent. Because as our Chief Rocker always espouses; marketing is an art, not a science.

It’s hard and it’s scary when you put yourself out there. But, people will respond to your conviction and confidence. It’s inspiring. Tell your story.

Good day to you, friends, colleagues and cherished clients!

It’s a very special time here at Front Porch Marketing, as the month of March marks our five year anniversary.

Once upon a time, I gathered the “Porter Posse,” some of my trusted friends, brightest business and marketing minds and family, plied them with delicious food and drink, and shared my dream of opening a boutique branding and marketing company. That evening spent brainstorming would form the early framework of life on the Porch, and the love and support received provided the momentum needed to make it happen.

And so, in honor of our anniversary, here is a samplin’ of five rockin’ things we’ve loved about branding and marketing businesses along the way:

1. The Porch grew! It started with one fearless leader, but along the way we added diversity, depth and experience—one person at a time. Today, we are eight core team members strong!
2. Two words: Dream. Clients. Again, we started with one. One Dallas-based luxury brand. Today, we partner with an amazing cross-section of independent-thinking entrepreneurs who are passionate about their businesses. They have challenged us and fortified us and we are thankful to have each and every one of them.
3. We picked up a prestigious certification: WBENC. And we are darn proud of it. The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council is a national 501(c)(3) non-profit that provides a world class standard of certification to women-owned businesses throughout the country. No small feat, we are honored to have risen to the challenge and make the cut for two consecutive years.
4. Every day, we get to do what we love. Yes, branding and marketing! We are mad about it—branding, strategy, research and competitive analysis are at the core of everything we do. But we also rock the other pieces of the puzzle—advertising, communications, planning and mapping, email marketing, public relations, sustainability initiatives and social media strategy and implementation.
5. Our Clients’ success stories became our success stories. When our clients rock, so do we! Nothing is more gratifying than starting from chicken scratch, forming a plan, implementing a shared vision and watching it come to fruition. We recently highlighted two successful case studies on our website: PeopleResults and Empire Baking Company.

Thanks to all of you, the Porch is rockin’ after five great years!

Julie Porter is the chief rocker at Front Porch Marketing. You can follow her, julie_porter, or her company, itsfrontporch, on Instagram and Twitter, juliedporter01 or ItsFrontPorch.

You’ve cultivated your own personal brand. You’ve pulled together an impressive resume, collected letters of recommendation, completed service hours, cleansed and monitored social media profiles. You are a model citizen waiting to hear the results of your application. Only, this isn’t a job application, or even a college application. This is the high school entrance process for magnet and private schools in Dallas. You heard me – high school.

These are 13 and 14-year-old students … and this is a typical experience for parents of middle schoolers this time of year.

I know I’m dating myself, but in my day, attending school was a relatively simple matter: application plus test and voila, you’re either in or you’re not. No big deal. In today’s uber competitive world, however, our young teens begin a grueling process that starts the year before. There are test prep classes, interview skills seminars, tutoring appointments, essay drafts, service hours and school tours. They begin building a resume that we never even dreamed of dealing with until college.

It is the crafting of what will become their personal brand.

In many ways it’s become a little too much. The transition from middle school to high school is fraught with plenty of landmines without this element of pressure added. But modeling the appropriate behaviors goes a long way in getting them through it. By reinforcing the process, not the outcome, it can become a learning experience. Along the way these children will learn resilience. Let’s face it, these are the years when teens face some of their first real rejection. It’s not easy.

Let me be clear, I am NO expert. We have one child and are muddling through with lots of good company in a wonderful environment filled with friends and other parents who are willing to share their experiences and offer tips. It’s an amazing village.

The good news is that there are plenty of options. With good counselors and faculty shepherding families through the process, the students will realize that the universe is watching out for them and whatever school they attend as freshman will be a good stepping stone for the next chapter of their academic experience. And the process teaches them that personal branding is an important part of their lives.

Everyone has his or her own morning routine – mine happens to include hitting the snooze button at least once, a big cup of coffee and a quick scroll though Twitter.

Twitter is how I keep up with friends, keep up with the news, but most importantly- how I keep up with marketing. By following my favorite branding and strategy experts, I am able to learn their insights from decades of experience that I don’t have.

Over the past few months, I have curated a list of marketers that I follow to cover all the marketing bases, and here are just a few of my favorites.

Seth Godin (@ThisIsSethsBlog) – Author of the book, Purple Cow and others, where he discusses how to transform your business and yourself by being remarkable, posts daily about permission marketing and tips on how to be the “purple cow” in a field full of competition. His twitter is purely reposts of his blog, which ranges in topics from how to turn your creativity into a profession, to how to power a digital future for your brand.

Jay Baer (@jaybaer) – If you want a daily update on all different aspects of digital marketing, follow Jay, as he is the most re-tweeted person in the world among digital marketers. His posts include influence marketing workbooks, six step playbooks for handling social media complaints, and everything in between.

Ann Handley (@MarketingProfs) – If content marketing is your thing, then definitely follow Ann, as she is “waging a war on mediocrity in content marketing.”

Bonin Bough (@boughb) – He is currently chief of media and eCommerce at Mondelēz International (formerly Kraft Foods), and specializes in digital strategy that crosses paid, earned, owned and shared media. Posts a great deal of social media tips, and if you know Front Porch Marketing, you know we LOVE all things social media.

Marie Forleo (@marieforleo) – Guru of how to achieve the perfect work/life balance. Posts about how to build a business you love, increase customer trust through social media, and increase productivity in every day life.

Robert Caruso (@fondalo) – Another expert content and digital marketer, who tweets about innovative ways to improve your social media, tips on how to increase brand awareness for startups, and how to get results in B2B marketing.

Kim Garst (@kimgarst) – As one of Forbes top ten social media influencers, she is the queen of social selling strategy. Her tweets range from Facebook advertisement jumpstart guides, tips on how to keep the cost of SEO down, and “cheat sheets” for selling on social media.
Bryan Solis (@briansolis)- Expert on digital marketing who provides step by step help for brands looking to transform their digital approach to create a brand experience.

Neil Patel (@neilpatel) – If you want to read a little bit of everything about digital marketing, Neil is your guy. As a Forbes columnist with years of experience in marketing, he combines motivational business tips with the knowledge necessary to succeed as a modern marketer.

While these are just a few of the hundreds of successful and influential marketers to follow on Twitter, by reading a few of their posts daily I am able to keep up with the ever-changing world of marketing. In addition to following experts in the field, a lot of successful marketers follow venture capitalists, as they see and predict new innovation that affects most industries and markets. Effective and influential marketers have to keep up in order to connect with their target market, so why not utilize social media to do so?

Rachel Mains is an intern at Front Porch Marketing. Follow her on Twitter.

I admit it, I’m a little obsessed with the Academy Awards. I’m maniacal about seeing as many of the nominated movies and performances as I possibly can, I read all the nominee’s profiles in glossy magazines, I watch them charm talk show hosts on television, and by the end of it I fall a little in love with the people I hope will win.

It wasn’t until I started working here on the Porch that I realized just how big a role marketing played  in these hallowed awards. Film is big business, and winning an Oscar translates into big dollars for the winner. It’s no wonder, then, that Oscar campaigns are born from basic marketing tenets:

You Must Have A Marketing Plan.  For Oscar nominees, a marketing plan involves promotion of  their film, their performance, and themselves in a way that appeals to voters and the moviegoing public. It’s a specific, multi-platform approach designed to build support and influence voters.

You Must Commit to the Investment. I was shocked to read that big studio Oscar-winning films will have had $10 million dollars spent on their campaigns. Studios know that an investment in marketing pays dividends, so they hire PR and marketing firms to guide them every step of the way.

You Must Know Your Brand. Much like a business, an Oscar marketing plan is built on the nominee’s image (their brand, if you will), and in all promotion, the message must stay true to that brand. As an example, this year’s best actor winner, Leonardo DiCaprio, who is normally reclusive and whose reputation is more party boy than serious adult, went on talk shows to portray himself as accessible and even had a well documented meeting with the Pope. Brand, brand, brand.

You Must Utilize Your Resources Wisely. Historically, print ads in trade magazines like Variety and Hollywood Reporter have been costly but successful in the Oscar world; but with readership in traditional  publications shrinking, a reallocation of resources is taking place. Social media is a must (yes – #LeoForOscar was a thing). Attending relevant events such as film festivals, making the rounds on high profile talk shows, and being accessible for major media profiles all have their place.

These Oscar campaigns show the value of strong marketing! Marketing is essential for your business. Having a plan. Investing in the plan. Knowing your brand. Being true to your brand. And knowing how to reach your customers.

The power of good marketing is far-reaching! Hollywood knows it. Do you know it? 

Photo courtesy of @thegemjuicebar

On the porch, we LOVE social media. We are OBSESSED with leveraging and analyzing it to benefit our clients.

Although … I am the mother of a 14-year-old teenager, and I should probably be writing this post about how to lock down your child’s devices … but that is for another day.

Instagram is one of my favorite social media networks at the moment. Not only is it a rockin’ sales driver for our clients, it is also not riddled with advertising and other noise that some social media networks have evolved into.

Here are some of my favorite Instagram accounts today:

• crazysexykris – Inspirational and uplifting.
• liveinthedetails – Emotive.
• the_luxury_list – Luxurious.
• mommasgonecity – Darling dogs and children.

And, of course, a few of our rockin’ clients’ accounts:

1. ellenhoffmandesigns
2. feizyrugs
3. thegemjuicebar
4. suzandavidsondesigns

I would love to hear what you are lovin’ on Instagram and with whom I can refresh my feed. So share!

Julie Porter is chief rocker at Front Porch Marketing. You can follow her, julie_porter, or her company, itsfrontporch, on Instagram.

We on the Porch are passionate about Branding! We have talked about branding. We have talked about lifestyle branding. Now let’s talk about how photos define your brand.

Simply put, pictures are as integral to your brand as grapes are to wine! They bring your brand to life. Beautiful photography can be used in so many ways! Photos can be used on your website, for sales materials, market/trade shows, third-party training materials and for social media.

Delivering your brand message via social media is imperative. Of the top five social media sites, two of them are 100% visual! You can’t gram or pin without a photo, so what should that visual be? Your visual storyboard is just as important as your branding message.

Considerations:
Studio Shoot or Location Shoot?
Obvious or Subtle?
To Demonstrate or Not to Demonstrate?
Features need highlighting?
Professional or smart phone?
How to Represent the Brand?

Hold up a minute! How to represent the brand? Yes, remember all the branding work you’ve done around brand promise, brand characteristics … these need to be applied to your photography.  A simple three-question quiz to ask when choosing a photo to represent your brand:

1. Does it match your brand personality, characteristics and definition?
2. Does it evoke emotion?
3. Does it illustrate your story?

Should you invest in professional photography? Heck, yes. There is a direct correlation to sales for almost all the brands we represent. Photography matters. It is worth the investment.

Need proof? Here’s our Client L’Amour Des Pied’s showroom floor before and after an investment in photography.

Our world is served to us on screens and those screens can’t give us a 5 sense experience, we must rely on the photo to evoke necessary emotion. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words.