Would you really want to work for Marissa Mayer and Yahoo?

A lot has been reported and blogged about concerning Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s decision to end working remotely for all employees by June 1.

Mayer is trying to change Yahoo’s company culture and believes this can only be done by working together and by together I mean in the same office around the same water cooler and drinking the same company Kool-Aid. It’s no secret that Yahoo is in danger of becoming another AOL, WebCrawler, Netscape, or AltaVista. Simply put, Yahoo is no longer relevant and she needs the best and brightest to work at Yahoo again.

So I ask, “Would you want to work for a company that believes you can only work from work?” Does she really believe work only happens in the office? Look around you. We’re more connected today to business and friends than ever before. Smartphones, tablets, laptops, WIFI, Skype, Facebook, text messages, IM… the list keeps going. And what year is it again? 2013 or 1953? I thought Yahoo was a forward-thinking company and a key part of the information age where innovation pushes new product development.

For me this comes down to trust and responsibility. Lousy employees are lousy in the office as well as out of it. Yahoo needs to put in the checks and balances necessary to retain and attract today’s dynamic workforce. I believe if Marissa really looked at the qualities and traits she wants in Yahoo employees she would see that it all comes down to performance. Either the work is getting done and getting done right or it’s not.

In this day and age, I’ve found the best employees understand what personal trust and commitment means. This same group knows that work doesn’t start at 9 or end at 5 and that working late into the evening or on a weekend is sometimes necessary to get the job done. In exchange for accessibility and productivity, the company provides benefits like schedule flexibility and an easy commute to the home office without rush hour hassles and no work expenses like parking or eating out.

We all work remotely at True Digital Communications. We are not a virtual office performing virtual work. I hate that term because it implies a lack of professionalism. We’ve even poked fun of it in a video. Instead we refer to it as an Open Office. Open in terms of flexibility for our team members but also open around the clock as needed for our clients. We work from our home offices, our clients’ offices, Starbucks or Panera and meet regularly. Isn’t this the type of work commitment Yahoo is looking for in its employees too?

In fact, our team members are together all day everyday. Perhaps that’s where Marissa should start as she retools Yahoo. The technology is there to connect a team remotely through email, instant messaging and video chat. Maybe that’s the real problem, Marissa. When did Yahoo last create tools to assist today’s progressive, innovative forward-thinking Open Office companies? At True, we use Google’s digital communications package because it meets our needs, wherever we are. If Marissa was looking for advice, I’d tell her to check out Google’s program.

Making 2013 the Best Year of Your Life

Say goodbye to 2012 and hello to 2013. With a new year, it’s time once again to reflect on what’s gotten me this far. What should I keep doing and what should I do differently? Should I stop procrastinating today or tackle that resolution over the weekend? How about exercising or losing weight? Is it possible to loose weight without exercising? I doubt it.

So what are the True Team members working on this year? For Erin it’s about continuing to learn. Her goal is to approach every opportunity as a learning experience. In life and in PR, she’s learned that sometimes you will be thrown into uncharted waters, whether that consists of unexpected curve balls thrown your way or tasks that require you to embrace new skills. However, she plans to maintain a positive outlook and be open-minded about a given situation so she can fully benefit.

For Tyler, it’s cooking in the kitchen and not eating at the local restaurant. He got into the habit of going out and eating something with a greasy side of fries. He has decided to save money and be healthier by cooking more. He also plans to read something related to digital marketing every single day. Whether it’s a blog post, news story, infographic or book – our industry changes so much that you can fall behind by reading any less.

For Allison, it’s not about making big goals but instead setting smaller, more attainable goals each week that make her a healthier, happier person. That ways she continues to better herself personally and professionally in little ways each day.

Perhaps foreshadowing what’s to come, our mom-to-be Christina plans to make more conscientious spending decisions and to have more patience and empathy. Great goals to have especially with a little one crying at all hours of the night. Good luck.

For me, my goals are not about losing weight, working out, saving money or being more focused. Instead, it’s more about learning to live in the present. Too often I spend time reflecting on the past or worried about the future and I miss the greatest gift of all, the here and now.

As you consider your resolutions for 2013, consider Whitney Johnson’s suggestions in her article featured in the Harvard Business Review’s Blog Network: Instead of Making Resolutions, Dream. As she says, instead of fixing all of the wrongs in our lives why not dream? “While resolutions are about “should,” dreaming is about hope – and who we may become.”

Regardless if you’re making resolutions, dreaming, or hoping, take the time to reflect on how 2013 can be the best year of your life. You’d be surprised how easy it is to make it happen.

A #TrueApproved Summer Internship: Recap

Members of Team True met for lunch to celebrate the end of a great summer with our intern, Ryan!

This week, our summer intern wrote a recap about his time with True! We’ll miss you, Ryan, and wish you nothing but the best!

Saying goodbye is never easy, especially when it’s to the amazing team at True Digital Communications.

True has been one of the central pillars of my life this summer, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Interning at such a dynamic agency has been an experience I’ll never forget.

I’ve learned about working in an agency, working in a team environment, how to thrive in an open-office format and I’ve learned about Google Analytics, Google Adwords, media lists, a video shoot, blog posts, blogger relations, Twitter influencers, case studies and client research this summer. I’ve been taught by the best.

Plus, interning at True is like a crash course in northeast Ohio travel. With our meetings all over the region, I got to see much more of my home state. Of course, the scope of this internship has been beyond anything I’ve ever experienced before. The amount of talented people I worked around and worth of the projects I completed are two things I’ll always appreciate about True. I never felt like a stereotypical intern here. I never had to make copies, I never had to get coffee and I always heard from my fellow team members, who were checking on me to ensure I was doing well. I felt cared about and respected.

Just as much as I was respected, I was challenged. My work was always stimulating and never busywork. I will be a better public relations professional because of this internship, and I’m so grateful. When I someday have an intern working under me, I know how to treat that intern well because of True Digital. This summer has been a case study of a successful internship program.

Just like I’m #TrueApproved, this internship is #RyanApproved!

What It Means To Be #TrueApproved

When clients turn to a digital marketing and communication agency like True Digital Communications, they expect real, feasible solutions to help their organizations thrive. True works with digital public relations, search engine optimization, email, mobile marketing, training and analytics to facilitate client success. We want to pass along our best knowledge and use it to your advantage.

Our goal is for True clients to view us as trusted advisors. We’ve created the special hashtag #trueapproved to showcase great things for our clients that we use or agree with. When something is labeled #trueapproved, the entire True team is letting everyone know we think it’s relevant and meaningful; it’s our stamp of approval. It’s not #trueapproved unless our entire team is behind it.

We Only Approve the Best.

It goes without saying that we only post, tweet and write about #trueapproved material. We don’t have time to focus on anything but the best digital communications tools and strategies. That’s why we’d love for you to “Like” us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, join our group on LinkedIn, subscribe to our newsletter and read our “More To Come” blog. Only #trueapproved content goes up on those platforms, and we think you’ll love what you find.

What we post and write about is usable. It’s relevant. It’s part of the latest trends. A tool we write about is a tool we’re probably using in our own offices, and we just couldn’t keep it to ourselves. A story we tweet has captivated our own interest, and we think people should know about it. A conversation on LinkedIn about a “More To Come” blog post could expand your views on anything from viral videos to Facebook contests to new mobile apps.

From Us To You

Digital communication is True’s specialty and passion. We spend much of our days looking for the right tools we can use to achieve your goals and ours. The #trueapproved hashtag is a way for us to share that happiness with you.

True communications

It started with an idea that scared the hell out of me. What if PR and advertising as we’ve all known it to be didn’t work anymore? What if the media didn’t carry the same influence as it always had or if people simply stopped watching television? At the time, these
were radical thoughts, but now they aren’t so far-fetched and people are actually beginning to watch less television.

True Digital Communications was formed on the belief that digital communications is built on a foundation of open, honest and relevant conversation. Gone are the days of simply interrupting with advertising or building brands with crafty, expensive public relations campaigns. Simply by performing a search, key audiences can learn everything they need to know about a brand including its products, personality, customer interactions, employee morale, history, reviews, etc. This is what I call a brand’s Digital DNA – the brand with all of its beauty and warts is on full display, every minute of every day. There is no place to hide it. So why not embrace your organization’s Digital DNA and build a proactive communications program around it? Sounds like a bold idea but to the digital marketer, this is the opportunity.

I created True to help brands find and develop their voice through search marketing, digital public relations, email marketing, mobile and analytics. True, honest and effective communications is not just from the brand, but from all of its constituents, too. Working together, the effects on brand awareness, loyalty, customer service and thought leadership is exponentially more powerful than anything implemented through traditional means.

New thinking and new processes are done through a new type of marketing professional. They love communications but understand the power of spreadsheets and analytics to understand what’s working and why. They are trailblazers who respect traditional means but embrace technology and new thinking to create better, more effective ideas and processes.

Team True is made up of professionals who vary in age and experience, but who are the best-in-class at what they do. Working together, we bring down the wall between traditional marketing silos and embrace new technologies and new thinking to create a brand voice in the digital space.

We welcome your thoughts and reactions to our ideas. The potential for an organization that embraces true communications – pure, relevant, naked, honest – is enormous.

It’s time for True communications.