It used to be an agency professional was expected to be a generalist in the specifics of marketing and advertising. It was understood that it’s impossible for a creative, AE or media planner to know everything about everything. Sure, you better know media buying, strategy and creative but no one expected a mid-level art director to know the mechanics of hanging a billboard or a or how to operate a movie camera.

But that’s all changed. An art director is now expected to know how to program flash and an a account man better know more than a little bit about testing and measurement. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at a job posting for an Art Director these days. It’s not uncommon to see 10 different programs that they are required to know.

Technical knowledge is a good thing. The more you know the better, right? Well, not if we’re now evaluating professionals based on technical knowledge when it’s not their primary job.

I’m not saying this as a technophobe. For a creative, I am actually pretty technically capable. But a great creative or AE, is someone who can think generally about a problem and come up with solutions across multiple disciplines, many which even aren’t considered marketing or advertising. And that’s just not how most technologists think. In the end, generalist thinking is way more valuable to a client than knowing how to manipulate a timeline in Adobe Flash Professional.

Last year everyone was screaming “social media, social media” at me. This year they’ve been screaming video.

What does that mean? It means that social media has become more ingrained in the agency and folks no longer need to me to answer questions on how to. This is great for both me and the agency.

It also means, instead of blogging I’ve been relearning everything I learned in film classes, getting back up to speed on Final Cut Pro, and immersing myself in the rest of Final Cut Studio. All that in addition to writing copy.

I’ve been debating whether I should shift the focus of this blog to be more in-line with what I’ve been doing lately including shooting with the Canon 7D and editing web videos. For the time being I think I’ll be mixing it up.

Ever gone out to dinner with someone who constantly cuts you off to talk about themselves? Ever work next to someone who bores you with what they did over the weekend while you’re trying to work? Or maybe you have a mother-in-law who continuously explains to you how things are supposed to be done while you’re trying to finish your chores. You probably get the feeling… The rest here

It’s been a few weeks since I posted here and for good reason. But this really isn’t the time or place to talk about it. (If you’re my Facebook friend and you know me personally, you already know why I haven’t posted.)

I’ve written here before about the need to post frequently and maintain a  constant presence. Consistently creating high-quality content is the best way to build influence in the social media sphere and to increase the chances that  posts be featured high in search results.

What if you’re not up to creating high-quality content? Jim Rome the popular sports DJ jokes that he has to go “down in the basement and recharge the batteries” every now and then to keep the quality of his program up to  his standards. This is a human and normal thing to do – yet professionals still feel the need to tweet their vacations away. Stop it.

If you’re in a corporate environment you need a plan for your personal time. For the agency blog, we keep a couple generic articles in reserve that can be posted when people are on vacation – we advise clients to do the same. If you’re a personal blogger you can do something similar, posting before your vacation but not have the posts go live  till you’re far away from responsibility – WordPress makes this really easy. Or you can just give yourself a break. I did and I don’t feel guilty.

Most ad agencies have historically hired specialists to handle the digital part of the equation – leaving creatives to play and not worry so much about the technical details. After all, they’ve got plenty on their plate learning programs, production skills, and just cranking out killer creative. Who needs another skill set to worry about?

Now with job scarcity the way it is, agencies are raising their expectations of digital knowledge. Partially because clients are starting to demand it of agencies as well. And, of course, they haven’t done a great job of training creatives in these concepts.

It’s up to us as professionals to take our own development seriously. Shit always rolls down hill, doesn’t it? So here are a few things copywriters should think be thinking about in relationship to SEO.

1. SEO isn’t an even suckier new version of REO Speedwagon. It means Search Engine Optimization.
2. You cannot ignore SEO anymore. Your job now includes digital and no one else will fix your mistakes.
3. Even if your boss doesn’t get it, you better. It’s called responsibility.
4. Their are no magic bullets or techniques that make it easy. That was Black Hat SEO and its days are over.
5. Never let the developer or Art Director put the content in Flash or images.
6. Buy a book on SEO like this one. (Worthwhile, I’ve actually read it).
7. Google doesn’t want you to game the system so there are no hard and fast rules.
8. You won’t loose your membership to the creative club if you add keywords to your copy. Well, unless you do it hackneyed.
9. If you’re aware of SEO when you start a project, you can make smart word choices and design decisions that won’t screw up your concept.
10. Search engines rank keyword density but they are also programmed to notice too many keywords. If your copy is super-laden with keywords it will suck and no one will read it or share it. Double foul, shame on you.
11. You can still make fun of the tech guys if you take digital seriously.
12. SEO isn’t everything. Social Media Optimization is now very important. Oh, and there’s that whole well designed and written thing too.
13. People will think you’re a geek when you correct them on SEO in meetings. But at least they’ll respect you.

With two daughters under the age of four, I don’t get a lot of time to watch football. But I’m going to make some time this Sunday for some football — and for the ads, of course. More on the Kilganon blog.

Lets face it not everybody likes hot dogs or buns but it doesn’t mean you can ignore either if you’re trying to have a party. This is something I’ve been noticing gets messed up enough that it was worth writing about. The article is posted on the agency blog.

This was 7:30 AM. Just dropped off the girls and went for a short hike. Had nowhere to be for the rest of the day really. Taking a deep breath today. Hope you have a chance for one too. Have a great weekend.

Well, that blows. Really, it does.

I know a lot of people just like you. After all, the economy is awful, so who would quit any job? Even if you’re severely overworked.

There have been days, where I’ve felt just like you. Thankfully, it’s not persistent.

Fortunately, my job is pretty diverse. Wasn’t always that way. But possibly becuase I demonstrate to the people that I work for I have a passion for more than just my core competency, they let me do more. That means that yesterday I was a photographer and today I’ll be a social media strategist and copywriter.

So maybe my passion for copywriting is running a little low. So what, I’ve got plenty of social media stuff to do to. Just power through the writing and get to the juicy stuff.

Extra hats around the office are often viewed as a problem. But they’re not if you can find a passion for them. Like I have for this blog or say my photography.

You knew it would happen. An employee was gonna blow a gasket on Twitter.

So now you’re thinking maybe this social media thing needs to be clamped down on. And just when it was starting to pay off too.

Well did you plan for when the implosion happens? You’ve got a plan for workplace accidents, legal issues, and even bad PR.

Did you have a clear set of guidelines for your employees before they started talking?

Your employees will make you look dumb and like you’re not in control. But they used to do it with friends, coworkers, and sometimes customers over drinks. But they do say 100 times more positive things online. And now you it’s all on their permanent record and they should have a clear idea of the consequences of their actions.

So you may as well keep it out in open rather than drive it underground. Because they’ve always been talking about you and the company anyway. Only now that word of mouth can be Googgled.