Shawn Graham

Consultant, Writer, Speaker & Creative Catalyst

 

Eliminate your blind spots. Time to conquer the open road.

Shawn harnesses his entrepreneurial chops
and 4+ years as a Fast Company blogger to
help small businesses rev up their marketing and brand strategy. Because the status quo is meant for everyone else.
More dirt on Shawn »

Consulting

Shawn is obsessed with helping clients fire on all cylinders.
Learn more »

Speaking

High energy and high impact programs filled with passion, humor, and industry insights.
Learn more »

Writing

Shawn’s Blog »

Marketing and branding tips
for the badass small biz owner.

Fast Company Blog »

Creative fuel for intrapreneurs and chronic idea generators.

Latest from the Blog

May 29, 2012

Top 7 Most Popular Stories For The Week That Was

Back in the saddle after the extended Memorial Day holiday weekend. What better way to burn off all of the hotdogs, hamburgers, and potato salad than by kicking your small business marketing up a notch or 10?

To help you get things firing on all cylinders, let’s take a look back at the posts you read, shared and commented on for the week that was on the Creative Combustion blog.

Popular stories included a look at the 5 key elements that can make or break any pitch to prospective customers or investors, reasons why you shouldn’t waste all of your time worrying about SEO, and ideas for turning National Small Business Week into a year-long event.

Read more… | Leave a Comment »

May 24, 2012

The Art Of The Pitch

2012-05-23 15.15.46

You do it. I do it. Your neighbor down the street does it. We all pitch all of the time. Ideas, products, strategic plans, places to go for lunch—when a decision has to be made, there’s a pretty good chance a pitch won’t be too far behind.

Some folks are a lot better than others. Like great athletes or musicians, they’re able to channel the hours, weeks, months, or even years of nonstop preparation into the perfect performance. When they nail it, you can almost feel it in the air—the buzz from the crowd, the validation of all of their hard work, and an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. Definitely a reoccurring theme at yesterday’s Innovation Works Investor Day on the South Side of Pittsburgh.

Read more… | Leave a Comment »

May 22, 2012

Don’t Be An SEO Chaser

Storm Chasers TIV 1

Emergency! Emergency! Google tweaked its search results algorithm again. You immediately get a huge knot in your stomach. You just spent a big chunk of money optimizing your small business website so you’ll appear higher up in the search results and then BAM, out of the blue the visibility of your website hangs in the balance. Sound familiar?

When Google announces wholesale changes to search (which typically happens every few months), a lot of small business owners go into pure panic mode. They want to react to those changes on a dime so their online presence doesn’t take a huge hit.

Read more… | 4 comments so far | Leave a Comment »

More entries…