Palmer Blog
June 4, 2010
In a conference this past week I had the pleasure to listen to panel discussions from the viewpoint of shippers, carriers, financial analysts and other industry sectors. It was enlightening to say the least. I’ve already blogged on the topic of what the large retail shipper is looking for and also how best to handle the delicate subject of rate increases. The shippers know they’ve had a good run and won’t be surprised by rate […]
May 31, 2010
I’ve only been blogging for a couple of months now but I’ve seen the benefits and I’m definitely a believer. Because we track everything we do, we can directly attribute a significant increase in our web rankings on Google to our blog efforts. Jerry, who manages our Web, IT and SEO and Robin who heads up our Promotional Services are also frequent bloggers on our site. From my perspective, there is no shortage of marketing […]
May 28, 2010
At Palmer Marketing we do our utmost to keep current with design and marketing trends. We also attend various industry functions to further understand the challenges the transportation industry is facing. The take aways from a recent conference are as follows: What are large shippers looking for when selecting carriers? Commitment to timing, now more than ever EDI interface Modern equipment and financial stability Proactive solutions to maximize consolidation opportunities and utilization Solutions away from […]
May 17, 2010
Throughout life we have tough decisions to make and we can only partially evaluate their success, even in hindsight. Why? Because the variables that circle each decision are infinite in number. Running a business is like reading a good mystery novel with the last few pages missing. We do what we can to figure things out on the way, working hard to achieve the best results possible. Six years ago we took a new business […]
May 10, 2010
Like a song or a painting, there are an infinite number of approaches you can take to create your company website. Continuing the comparison, there are karaoke and paint by number methodologies that you should steer clear of. Why? We believe your web (now more than ever) is the front line of your marketing and should have a personality and message that truly depicts who your company is today and why customers should pick you […]
May 4, 2010
I’ve been driving since the day I turned 16 but have never played chicken until yesterday on my routine drive to work. By definition the game of chicken (also referred to as playing chicken) is a “game” in which two players each drive a vehicle of some sort towards each other, and the first to swerve loses and is humiliated as the “chicken”. In this case my opponent was a pigeon, the location was an […]
I love my work like I love summer. Why not? Summer is when I get to play my favorite sport—golf! Playing artist is a lot like playing golf. You need to be calm and cool under pressure if you ever hope to keep the ball in play; that’s rare for an artist. My best shots happen when I talk less and concentrate more; that’s not so rare for an artist.
I’m definitely a country girl. I didn’t grow up in an actual town, village or hamlet. It was more like the middle of somewhere along Highway 28, surrounded by trees. Many thanks goes to my high school art teacher, Mr. Edwards, for inspiring me to choose this career path. With the realization that I actually could create art for a living, college lured me away from country life to the big city. Kitchener, to be exact, to study Graphic Design & Advertising at Conestoga College. Talk about beginning an adventure and a culture shock! Not staring at people with purple, green or some other wildly coloured hair was a bit of a challenge. City buses (lol thinking back), who knew they only stopped on the same side of the street as the bus stop sign!? Lesson learnt.
To say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree would be an understatement in my family; at least when it comes to picking a career path. There isn’t a person in my immediate family that hasn’t at some point or another worked in the IT field. I guess there’s something in our DNA that pulls us towards computers.
I am the 8th of 9 children raised in Essex County outside of Windsor, Ontario. We lived on a gravel road, no sidewalks and our greatest adventures were in our own backyard. I still have friends I made in grade 1 and continue to stay in touch today. After graduating from the University of Windsor with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, I moved to the big city of Toronto and have worked most of my career in the printing industry. I got to know the folks at Palmer Marketing as a key supplier to them for over a decade.
I started Palmer Marketing at age 34 in January of 1988. I had 2 kids in diapers and a crazy idea about running my own company. I came from an entrepreneurial family and had no good reason to believe it wasn’t possible and as it happens, it was.