Palmer Blog
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 […]
April 19, 2010
I just came from seeing the movie Kick Ass. It was kind of like Ninja Assassin meets Revenge of the Nerds. A somewhat dark but comical super hero flick that puts a capital “S” on the idea of spinning an old idea. It was highly engaging and entertaining with young Chloe Moretz delivering an outstanding performance. At age 13 she already has 19 movies to her credit and the foul mouthed little Hit Girl (her […]
April 16, 2010
On March 28, 2010 my daughter Katherine changed my active status to Grandpa Marketer. She was still in diapers herself when I started Palmer Marketing in January of 1988. She spent the evening with us recently and I must say it was amazing how quickly she has adapted to being a mom. I would also say I have no remembrance of it being so much work. So how do I switch from talk of babies […]
April 12, 2010
Tiger Woods was back on the golf course for the first time in months. He tied for 4th place at 11 under and set a record for most eagles at the Masters. When interviewed at the end of the game he basically said with his expression and his comments “I entered the Masters to win, and yes I’m disappointed with my performance“. He has the same forlorn expression in the controversial new Nike commercial featuring […]
April 9, 2010
I just came back from Florida and Walmart has a new ad in heavy rotation promoting “rollback” pricing as a direct result of lowering transportation costs. Anyway, if you haven’t seen the ad they show an older driver as the key character demonstrating how they are utilizing trailers better and doing shorter runs to save millions in transportation dollars. This then allows them to pass savings on to customers, delivering on their promise “Save Money. […]
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.
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.
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 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.
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.