Contributing Columnist with Inc.com

Contributing Columnist with Inc.com

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I'm pleased to announce that Inc.com has accepted me as a contributing columnist. My column, Community and Conversion, explores the intersection of leadership and marketing. This is keen interest of mine, a differentiator for Three Over Four, and the main thrust of my book Leading in a Social World. The name of the column comes from Nichole Kelly, a marketing exec in the DC/Baltimore area. Nichole's work for a debt relief organization caught my eye as a strong example of building social capital in social media, and I interviewed her for my book. She sees her work as community building more than marketing, and told me that “recognizing opportunities for human connection is very different from opportunities for conversion." What a gem of a thought. Nichole is actually featured in…
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Four Ways Organizations and Leaders can #BreakTheBias

Four Ways Organizations and Leaders can #BreakTheBias

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The women on the Three Over Four team… damn. They’ll awe you, and not only because they practically run the joint, or because of their impressive work across the content.  They’ll stun you because of who they are and how effortlessly they embody the values of 3o4 (that they helped shape). Three Over Four hit the jackpot with our nearly all-female team, and honoring them during Women’s History Month is just a small way to share some gratitude.  And look, we’ll say it before you think it: we know this is a cliché.  Anyone who’s paying attention knows that women keep our world running ​culturally, politically, socioeconomically, and more, so the only kind of gratitude (yup, also cliché) that counts is advocacy and rallying behind them in the global fight…
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Marketing in the time of COVID-19

Marketing in the time of COVID-19

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The American Marketing Association reached out to several branding and marketing people and firms (including yours truly) and asked what we're seeing and how we're adjusting our approach to our work amidst the pandemic. You can see the quotes here. It's an interesting time. Like all of you, I'm sure, I'm hearing stories from agencies whose business has fallen off a cliff, and some with an increase in activity. Three Over Four is feeling incredibly fortunate and grateful to be in the latter category. I'm not sure what to attribute it to, but client work has increased since COVID-19 really heated up in the U.S. Personally I'm wary of anyone predicting the future. Augie Ray, as he so often does, seems to have it about right: Marketers need to consider…
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From I to We (Also, Stickers)

From I to We (Also, Stickers)

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November marks nine years since Aaron Templer launched his own branding and marketing firm. He and a group of marketing pros and clients from across industries built strategies, brands, marketing communications plans, and executed full-service campaigns while continually seeking new ways to deliver higher value to clients. After nine years of giving life and growth to others’ brands, it's finally time to give life to his own. The time is right to make a move away from the I to the We. To shift focus from Aaron Templer to the team of marketing professionals Three Over Four has become. We're excited and proud to introduce the world to Three Over Four: A strategy-first agency built to be the kind of firm we always wanted to hire. We’d be thrilled to…
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