Butterflies used to be my visual brand. Why? Because I like photographing them and with the tagline “Marketing Transformations,” I though they were a natural fit. So I posted a series on my site: one for every page. But, did the images fit the brand? Here’s a replay of an article about branding methods, updated to merge with today’s contemporary takes.

Ten Branding Methods: Butterflies and Rainbows Optional

by Barbara Rozgonyi, founder of CoryWest Media, LLC

To request permission to reproduce or …

Gary Vaynerchuk is coming to Chicago tonight! I’ll be there. Because it’s Gary V Day in Chicago, I’m sharing this post from October 9, 2008 with 20 tips and a video. Enjoy! And…yes, I’ll be back with a report on what it’s like to meet Gary live. Thanks and congratulations to Kally Olexa for bringing Gary to town on his Crushit! book tour.

How does DNA relate to personal branding and community building? Read this post to find out.

On twitter, Gary …

The call was set for 10. We had a list of questions for them. But, before we could interview them, they wanted to interview us.

Thanks to Mark and Robert for taking time [almost an hour] to talk to Jeff Willinger and me about their take on social media. During our interview, Mark and Robert share stories about international entrepreneur successes, how they use social media and what they’ll cover when they speak to Social Media Club Chicago.

If you’re in …

It’s not everyday you get an invitation to have breakfast with a CEO – of a major company. But, that’s what six Chicago social media types got to do this week.
[Note: GM paid for my breakfast and parking.]

We met with Fritz Henderson, CEO of GM. After we introduced ourselves, we got to know Fritz, whose former addresses include Asia, Brazil and Switzerland. Now in his 25th year at GM, he has 14 more to go until he matches his father’s …

Approximately 100 posts ago, I wrote about how I wanted to redesign and rebrand this blog.
Before: All that’s left of my former blog is this screenshot I grabbed from Technorati.
Qualities Before: Messy, unorganized, text-heavy, out dated and totally not reader [or author] friendly.
After: What do you think?
Qualities After: What do you think?

Blog Rebranding Advice: A Before and After Podcast on Post 650

The first post that talks about Wired PR Works’ rebranding. Literally.

Jason Pelker of item-9 Consulting is who …

You could call this a high-click post. It gets more traffic than some blogs will ever get. It won a trip to BlogWorld. A national association just asked for republishing rights. More sites link into “Becoming a Subject Matter Expert on LinkedIn: The Top Ten Ways” than any other post on my blog. And, now it’s in a book.
In the video [I still can't believe I had the courage to make this with NO makeup - at all!], you’ll …

Depending on where you stand and look at “The Bean” in Chicago, you’ll see different reflections. [image credit: the social lens] The skyline is the same, but the sky and the people are different. Content works the same way. You produce it and it’s up to the reader or viewer to take it and reflect on how it looks to them. In June 2007, I wrote an article called “Recycling PR: 30 Ways to Repurpose/Reincarnate/Reuse Product Information, Marketing and Publicity …

“I can see you’re an open networker,” someone told me last week. “You make it easy to reach you via phone and email.”

Yes, that’s true and if you’re looking, look no further: my email is connect[at]corywestmedia.com and you can call or text me at 630.207.7530.

Some of you reading this are shaking in your seats. What about privacy? What about time?

When I first put my phone number in every single email that went out [and on every social networking profile], a …

Last night I watched “And in the end,” the final episode of “ER.”

When the show first came out, I watched it religiously. It was more relevant to my life then.

Why? My work revolved around hospitals, home health care, residency programs, organ and bone marrow transplants, and heart disease. My business really took off when I contacted every Chicago health care organization communications contact and asked them if they would like to receive my quarterly newsletter.

Business crossed over into real …