I’ve been blessed with children who don’t always agree with me. I’ve been blessed with kids who make me proud by how they think, their determination and their kindness.

Every day, I catch glimpses of them and think – How can they be this big?

I catch glimpses and see the young adults that the older ones are becoming, and I look at my youngest, my five-year-old Lia, and easily imagine the beautiful woman she will one day be. For me, the best and hardest part about being a mom is letting them grow up into the people they are destined to be. I hope I have given them the tools to find happiness and safety, love and wonder, throughout their lives.

We’re not just moms. We help them write their stories, giving them the tools to take their story wherever they want it to go.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful moms out there!

– Jenny

Please accept this poem from CatchPhrase Communications in celebration of the event. Read it, keep it or pass it on.

Always Bring a Pencil

By Naomi Shihab Nye

There will not be a test.
It does not have to be
a Number 2 pencil.

But there will be certain things—
the quiet flush of waves,
ripe scent of fish,
smooth ripple of the wind’s second name—
that prefer to be written about
in pencil.

It gives them more room
to move around.

Reprinted with permission.

Naomi Shihab Nye was born on March 12, 1952 in St. Louis, Missouri. Nye is an award-winning poet and author of numerous books of poems, including You and Yours(BOA Editions, 2005), which received the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award, as well as 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East (2002). She currently resides in San Antonio, Texas.

CatchPhrase Communications promotes literacy and a love of literature.

For writing and grammar tips and encouragement, visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/catchphrasepr.

Visit our web site at www.catchphrasepr.com.

Illusion is a false idea or belief. Allusion is an indirect or passing reference. For example … The students created an illusion of Medieval times during their performance. The banker made an allusion to the missing document in the conversation.

A compliment is an expression of praise or admiration). A complement is a thing that completes or brings to perfection, or to complement means to add to something in a way that completes it or perfects it. For example … Commenting on her blue dress, Terry paid a compliment to Trisha. The side dish was a perfect complement to the meal.

Farther is used to refer to a measure of physical distance. Further means to a great degree. For example, John ran farther than Tom. We all knew he would improve his education further. (Good way to remember the difference between the two: Farther includes the word far. How far did he run?

http://family.lifegoesstrong.com/article/how-write-tips-your-teen-and-you

With tips on trimming unnecessary words (“cut the fat”) and using “is” sparingly, the tips push toward stronger writing, lean and powerful. Let your words come alive and take action. Choose strong verbs and and an active voice rather than passive. Short and sweet equals to the point, so don’t let your writing get bogged down with superfluous language.

One of my favorite points from the blog:

Scholars note that nine out of 10 words in Lincoln’s Gettysburg address were one syllable. (“Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”)

Big words can sometimes hinder meaning and comprehension, so keep in mind where it is appropriate and necessary to find impact with simple statements.

– Jenny

advance warning

alternative choice

ATM machine

brief moment

could possibly

current trend

eliminate altogether

grow in size

live witness

merge together

new innovation

passing fad

PIN number

planning ahead

please RSVP

unexpected emergency

Why? Because the more engaged your fans are with your page, the more frequently your page will appear in their news feed. Successful Facebook pages literally get more top of mind awareness with their fans because they appear more frequently in their most loyal fans’ news feeds.

EdgeRank is the name of the algorithm which Facebook uses to determine what appears in their users’ news feeds. The higher your EdgeRank score, the more likely your page is to be visible on a Fan’s ‘Top News’ feed.

Facebook defines EdgeRank as a mathematical equation, comparing a multitude of Facebook Page Insights.  Essentially, EdgeRank examines the engagement and interactions (or affinity) that a user has with any content posted and increases or decreases the ‘weight’ (or relevance) that is applied to future content appearing in user feeds. For example, if a user has previously commented or ‘liked’ posts from a particular brand, the likelihood that future content will appear in their news feed from that brand is much higher than if the user doesn’t interact with the content.

Want to find out your Facebook Edgerank score? There’s a great free option at www.edgerankchecker.com. Sign up and check out your score. Note that Facebook pages with smaller fan bases more easily score higher than Facebook pages with more fans, because it is easier to leverage the smaller fan base, get a larger percentage of that close group involved.

Facebook Insights (see the link on the right side of your Facebook page) also offers a lot of helpful information to better understand your Facebook presence, including demographics.

Please call us at (573) 837-4741 or email jenny @ catchphrasepr.com if you would like more information on evaluating your Facebook page. CatchPhrase Communications offers a quarterly evaluation and recommendation service to help you stay on top of your Facebook rank and help boost your presence. We combine multiple online tools with Facebook Insights, plus take a manual look at your posts, to make recommendations and evaluate your status.

Like this infographic? Get more copywriting tips from Copyblogger.

CatchPhrase Communications is excited to partner with client Stadium Grill to encourage hungry readers in mid-Missouri! We put together a fun promotion for select schools in Columbia Public Schools to encourage them to read and to continue Stadium Grill’s dedication to supporting education in Columbia.

Students in grades 2 through 4 at selected Columbia Public Schools will receive a certificate for a free burger from Stadium Grill when they complete at least four book reports during the month of March.  In addition, at each participating elementary school, the student who completes the most book reports in March receives free burgers for a year (one free burger certificate each month).  Stadium Grill will also deliver lunch to the class that completes the most book reports out of all the participating schools for a special celebration at school.

Stadium Grill has invited the following Columbia schools to participate in the Book Reports for Burgers promotion: Fairview Elementary, Grant Elementary, Lee Elementary, Midway Heights Elementary, Mill Creek Elementary, New Haven Elementary, Rock Bridge Elementary, and Shepard Blvd Elementary. Students at these schools who wish to participate should check with their classroom teachers for more information.

Throughout the year, Stadium Grill supports student achievement in Columbia with free burger awards, plus rewards teachers with certificates for free meals. Since the beginning of this 2011-12 school year, Stadium Grill has sent out an amazing 2485 certificates for free kids’ meals to participating Columbia public schools elementary and junior high schools, helping our local educators reward deserving students.

We like this promotion so much that we asked Stadium Grill if we could extend it to North Callaway school district (our local district) as well, with CatchPhrase’s support. Students in grades 2 through 4 at Hatton, Auxvasse and Williamsburg Elementary will receive a certificate for a free burger from Stadium Grill when they complete at least four book reports during the month of March.  In addition, the North Callaway student who completes the most book reports in March will receive a $50 gift card to Stadium Grill, compliments of CatchPhrase Communications.  CatchPhrase will also deliver lunch to the class that completes the most book reports out of all the participating schools for a special celebration at school.

Stadium Grill is located at the crossroads of College and Stadium at 1219 Fellow’s Place in Columbia. For more information, visit www.stadiumgrillcolumbia.com or call (573) 777-9292.

Here are a couple of ideas to have fun and increase engagement.

Hoop it up.

Bring in a mini basketball hoop set and invite your customers to take a shot. Offer a discount for when they make it. Create different levels of challenge and offer different levels of discounts accordingly. Take photos of the best shots and post on Facebook.

Create a bracket contest.

Offer your own bracket contest with prizes. Or tie in your contest with your favorite charity. An easy way to handle: Customers pay $5 each for a bracket entry. Top scorers get prizes, but all the cash goes to the charity. Post scores on Facebook, and ask the charity to help pitch in with promotion, increasing your reach and the amount you are able to raise for the charity.

Increase employee morale with an internal contest.

Encourage a little competition and fun with your staff with an internal bracket contest. Offer a prize and braggin’ rights for the top scorer.

Step One

Log in to your LinkedIn account, then click on “Settings” in the drop down box under your name.

Step Two

Under the “Profile” tab, look for “Helpful Links” and then find “Edit your public profile.”

Step Three

You’ll see the option to create a LinkedIn URL of choice on the right side of the screen. Personalize your URL. For example, use your name instead of the given list of numbers.

Share your LinkedIn URL on your business card and in your e-signature to boost your connections.

Connect with me by visiting http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennybondurant or clicking the icon below.