I find it incredibly interesting that in an industry like advertising where we mold "reality versus perception," that the majority of the industry, as a whole, still seems adverse to marketing to the LGBT community. I get that it's incredibly difficult to teach old dogs new tricks. However, we as marketing professionals should be pushing the envelope of "risk versus reward" with our clients. And the simple truth is this: Brands and businesses that take the LGBT community seriously now will reap the rewards over their risk-averse competitors that are.

How many times have you had a client make so many revisions that you forgot what the original idea was? How many times were you paid appropriately for all of those revisions? All to often, the math doesn't work out in favor ot the freelancer. Which is exactly why you need to start thinking about this.

Often speaking to peers, friends and associates in the business, I get questions regarding what they should look for when selecting an agency or service affiliate. Of course this is a double-edged sword because a company only wants to show the best and brightest of their thinking and results. There is no tab on any website that says, "biggest disasters and how we overcame them," but I would damn sure click on it first if it was an option.

They say that a picture can speak a thousand words. I wouldn't deny this for a second, nor would I question the power of words, editing, locations and the cadence created within video to construct emotional value. So when I found this video, I laughed to myself. While in the end it does end up being an advertisement for a stock video company, it also says a lot about advertising and our willingness to digest it.

There is one conversation that ranks as high on the discomfort meter as talking about strangers with your child. It is the discussion with your client about the ROI of a follower, a like, or a subscriber.

Over the past few weeks we witnessed a few monumental explosions of social media reactions. One over statements made by Phil Robertson of “Duck Dynasty.” The other one was from now former public relations executive Justine Sacco, who made of the infamous #HasJustineLandedYet Tweet. Both situations fall into the always attractive “hindsight is 20-20” silo.

As much as any medium, social media plays "the numbers game" in an effort to bend perception. Let's not forget that the biggest fanboys and fangirls for social media are really marketing professionals and advertisers. They are the same people who learned to manipulate and exploit the tools before most average folks ever knew what a “Tweet” was. That being said, there is still skewed misunderstanding that numbers equal value or some type of discernible ROI.

Despite its various quirks and idiosyncrasies - I love Facebook. In my opinion, it is still the best social media platform for me both professionally and personally … at this time. But Lord Facebook did you test my patience and scared the hell out of me on Thanksgiving.

Rarely does one construct a brand that has equal amounts of cultural significance and product association.  Recently I have had the opportunity to work with Orlando Harley- Davidson, consulting them through Big Block Studios on their social media, content marketing and interactive integration. You would think that a rough-and-tumble brand like Harley-Davidson would just give the finger to the world and not give a shit about aggressive optimization.

Something we don’t talk about much in interactive marketing is what's broken or perhaps on its deathbed. 

Regular readers know I have a severe case of #FOMO about my industry and its insanely ascending evolution. As if that isn’t enough to keep my mind in overdrive, I am the same way about technology, trends, tactics and strategies that might have outlived their usefulness - or are ready for an overhaul.

Do you like traveling to exotic destinations? Are you able to sit for hours on end with an uncomfortable assortment of heroin-filled condoms inserted in your rectum? Then you've got what it takes to become a professional drug mule! 

Many social media experts will have you believe that content is the key to successful marketing messages. There is a great deal to be said for that. Don't forget, however, that regardless of content type, you might as well not generate any content at all if your message misses the mark on creating an action.

If you hang out on the Internet long enough, you accrue friends from all over the globe. Some of them you end up meeting sooner or later at a conference, which is nice because it’s always good to have one more person you can hit up for a quick iPhone charge. Then there are others you may never meet face-to-face.

There are very few things less interesting to me than Miley Cyrus. On an interest scale ranging from The Location of Carmen Electra’s Latest Tattoo on the high end all the way down to Parenting Tips From That “Kate Plus Eight” Woman, Miley ranks slightly above Kate only because I’m a sucker for a good train wreck.

For the past several months, I have been mentoring a University of Central Florida student Julia Harlow (I could spend a whole post about how great she is and how well she will do in the future, just take my word for it) who has her sights on an advertising and design career.

No, not THAT kind of mature content! What are you, some kind of animal that roots through marketing blogs hoping for a cheap thrill when a guy like me compares SEO to steamy monkey lovin’ in a hot tub?

And I don’t mean that in a bad way.