If you’ve been checking your emails over the past few weeks, chances are you’ve seen a bunch from Linked In with these messages from your connections endorsing you. When I first saw these I actually didn’t pay it much attention because it didn’t really seem official. I’ve had recommendations written for me, and those I take quite seriously. However an endorsement didn’t ring a bell. After about seven more endorsements from various people who normally aren’t frequent on Linked In, I had a newly sparked interest to find out what this was all about.
First lets take this back to the addition of skills that you can now add to your profile. The skills can be just about anything like web design, graphics, SEO, HR, filing, management, etc. If you haven’t yet, go through your profile and add all the skills that pertain to your work history and expertise.
Once you’ve selected all of your skills, you’ll have a list of them towards the end of your profile page. This is now also public so people who are connected to you to be able to click small plus buttons to endorse you for those selected skills.
So now what does all this mean? Well for now it’s kind of like a public notoriety display. It may be that people don’t take the time to write out recommendations for their connections, or Linked In figured they’d create something much faster for user engagement similar to the Google Plus 1 (+1) button. However you feel about it, I suggest you start listing all of your skills, and ask for others to start endorsing you. Before long you’ll have multiple endorsements that you’ll be proud to show a prospective client or HR manager.
Small business or large corporate entities are defined by the vision of the organization, as well as its value system as it relates to society and where it ranks among its industry contemporaries. Defining that within your marketing & promotion strategy in a distinctive and definitive way can be challenging. So how do you create those strategies and consistently deliver on it when marketing & promoting your business? Here are a few tips to consider.
1. Know Your Brand Platforms The leading & most important company brand platforms are:
Company Mission
Company Long Term and Short Term Vision
Company Values
Personality
Industry Positioning
Social Media Integration
Knowing these allows you to prioritize your branding goals as well as allocation of time and resources to what’s most important.
2. Keep Your Promises
Paralleling strategy with the promises of delivery can sometimes be a complex and delicate balance. Knowing what to promise and ensuring those deliverables can have great or detrimental affects. Failing to keep a promise can have detrimental affect for your consumer’s brand loyalty. Most consumers identify certain brands that become their “go-to’s” and have no problem showing commitment when their expectations are met. Bottom line: Be a reliable & keep your promises.
3. Promote Your Brand Identity Values
In a more socially conscious era, most consumers like to know what companies stand for aside from just what they are selling to them. The best way to tap into that is for companies to articulate and translate their brand identities via a values system. To expand the potential impact of your business it is critical for companies to know what their core values are and properly promote the values they subscribe to. But what if you aren’t sure what those are? Take the time to figure out what your organizational values are and align your marketing efforts to those values.
4. Be Social…Globally
Prioritizing Social Media efforts doesn’t always come easy or depending on your size, make it to the top of your brand strategy list. And that’s a shame for several reasons.
Hello People…it’s FREE!
Every company should know that they COULD BE a global brand if they think outside of their geographical region and box-like mentality.
Social networks allow brands to capture more public attention than traditional print collateral, driving social-media chatter which equates to digital “good press”.
So whether its via Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google + or Stumbled Upon, people can gain worldwide access your content and ultimately your product or services. And in return, you get a global audience for your brand through some digital marketing powerhouses. This 2012 article highlights the impact and evolution of social media for businesses in 15 Social Media Statistics That Every Business Needs to Know.
Using these strategies will help you build strong, sustainable branding campaigns successfully by building your brand identity & core values, encouraging brand loyalty, delivering on your promises and increasing your company’s visibility in a broader, more global way.
Writing content for different platforms requires a varied approach for websites, social media platforms, and print collateral. It requires a certain level of skill to know the difference as well as what ways are most effective. What should remain constant however is that your content be reader-driven and “actionable” to keep readers engaged, educated (i.e. informed) and entertained.
Writing for Social Media
Set the Hook Quick -More concise writing in social media (SM) is the key. Most people are on the move while on SM platforms so it’s imperative that you set the content hook quick with strong points up front and in a pronounced way. There’s so much content out there so this a key way to stand out, engage and create a faithful reader. This ultimately affects the breadth of your audience and long-term followers.
The Risk Factor – Social Media social graces aren’t the same as traditional forums. So feel free to take a risk every now and again. If you have a quirky yet innovative way to capture an audience, SM platforms like Facebook & Google+ are the places to do it. Feel free to mix your SM writing with audio sound-bytes or other platforms like YouTube to really engage and entertain.
Writing for Websites
Standing Out – What ever the main point is of your content, it should be conveyed in a standout way that doesn’t require a lot of upfront reading or navigation. Using bold or differential typeface, different color fonts, graphs, images or infographics allows the reader to get the “gist” or the most important information in 1 minute or less. Make sure these standout points:
include bold statements about your business;
engages the audience visually; and
encourages them to act.
Write Easily Scannable Content – Don’t expect people to pour over your every word on your website. Scannable content is engaging content that allows readers to understand the general basis sweepingly, at a glance. It is easier to read than word-for-word and it allows readers to easily digest the primary information nuggets.
Writing for Print Collateral
Be Promotional & Motivating – Most web and social media content has to appear more informational than promotional. Subtle promotional content requires a certain finesse and is not overly stated or extremely brazen. A great print piece conveys to your clients that you take pride in your business, products or services. Your print collateral should persuade prospects and inform them that you have something valuable to offer them. Ultimately it should showcase your talents and strengths while clearly motivating to purchase your product or service.
The Bigger Picture Copy – Print collateral does so much more than explain your product or services. The quality of our product should be exemplified in your content copy and the copy should reflect in-kind. To me, sloppy copy conveys sloppy business. Remember once in a prospective client’s hands, you have the chance to make not just a client out of them, but hopefully a long-term advertiser via word-of-mouth.
Tail End Tip:Make sure all your content flows smoothly to minimize boredom, confusion or frustration.
When trying to market their products and/or services, most small businesses aren’t thinking about public relations. But they should. Regardless of size, profit margin, or number of employees, you must realize the image you portray is everything and is certainly what motivates consumers to select your business over your competition. Now that that is clear you might be asking…
What exactly is PR?
Why is it necessary for my business?
How do I start & maintain a good PR campaign cost effectively? Check out these free tips for a true, do-it-yourself road map to a successful PR campaign.
The Basics
Let’s start by defining PR. Per Wikipedia PR is “managing the flow of information between an individual or an organization and the public…[and] the aim of public relations by a company often is to persuade the public, investors, partners, employees, & other stakeholders to maintain a certain point of view about it, its leadership, products…”
Now consider what the best platforms are for your target audience. You can accomplish this by finding out how your customers or clients consume your content. Is it in readable form (website, blogs or in print); audibly as an iTunes podcasts; or watching videos via a business YouTube channel? Take a little time to figure that out and then get ready to leverage it (or all of them) like a PR/marketing maven!
The Bang for Your Buck by Blog
A blog is a great tool for sharing information and expertise. Having a consistent voice is important to teach consumers about your company’s perspective and interests. According to the the Social Skinny,
Getting Press
Having your business name out in the media, whether print or social, is a critical element to your image and of public relations strategy. Some cost-effective options include distributing electronic newsletters via free or low-cost email service providers. Try partnering with other local businesses for limelight events and advertisements to boost your brand recognition. Thanks to Forbes, here are some tips for starting & maintaining your media presence.
Rubbing Elbows
Participating in networking groups in a big part of getting your business local recognition. Most SBA’s (Small Business Associations) don’t require much money to join and host networking functions regularly. You can also network electronically by joining groups with similar interests through select social media channels liked LinkedIn. This is a great way to increase visibility while sitting right at your desk. For those of you not shy with a microphone in your hand, consider being a key-note speaker for a business workshop.
Earbudding PR
Most people are on the go constantly and mobile devices have almost become an appendage. So consider getting your audience’s attention on the go with the communication tool of podcasts. Leveraging podcast technology allows you to get your business name and brand message out to potential customers. Make sure your Podcast is short – usually no more than 15 minutes and contains the most value-added content to keep your consumer engaged. To get you started, check out these tips to successfully create your own business podcast.
Viral Video Marketing
Video marketing gone viral is the latest low/no-cost strategy for business to let the internet work for them. So if you or someone at your business is good at presenting, consider creating a YouTube brand channel. This allows the ever-growing audience of YouTube and potential consumers to get to know you & your business on a more personal level. Check out these tips on how to get started, get subscribers and run a successful video marketing campaign.
The Resource Table
Take time at least 2-3 times per month to peruse these great resources to stay abreast of PR tips and tricks.
You may have received a few web form submissions on your website that at first would seem like a bunch of HTML coding garbage with an email address and name that make absolutely no sense.
I did a bit of research and found out that these are from hackers in China. When I first started to receive them I just deleted them because the forms on our server are not stored on our server but instead are sent via email to our office. Eventually over the next few days I began receiving 5-10 form submissions every few hours each day. This can be terribly troublesome and alarming.
In order to combat this you’ll need to block the IP addresses from those rogue computers/hackers in China. Fortunately for the forms we currently use on our HTML website, the Country and IP addresses are provided. To block them you’ll need to create a HTACCESS file with instructions on blocking the IP addresses. I found this website to be quite informative with a host of IP addresses not only from China, but also other known Countries like Nigeria and Russia. I mean let’s be honest, we know we don’t have a fortune waiting for us in some Nigerian back just waiting to be transferred.
If you need help putting together your own htaccess file, leave us a comment below and we’ll get some details from you and send you one via email.
This years Super Bowl was an amazing televised phenomenon showcasing not just the talented, body crushing sport of football but the most popular musical talent as well as engaging and fun commercials by lead company marketing mavens. In the era of everything is Tweetable, Social Media usage was at an all time high and some data companies had great fun showcasing their talents in this realm. I found so many of the infograpics informative, engaging and quite stylized that I just had to share and comment on the best of them. So enjoy these top 3 Super Bowl XLVII infographic all stars!
Since I’m not a true football fan, I truly thank Sysomos for the Your Social Media Guide to the Super Bowl [Infographic] by Sheldon Levine. It highlights not only the Ravens & 49er social media fans going to head-to-head but also a plethora of information about the players including their personal Twitter handles.
*The above infographic is shortened because of size. Click on it to launch the entire infographic.
Kyle Lacy from Marketers from Mars gave us the very educative & classic looking infographic reflecting the most important details about the Social Superbowl. It highlights everything from the best advertising stats to some interesting and fun celeb Tweets.
Millenium Media scored big time with their Mobile Bowl infographic targeting specific statistics on social media engagement and traffic by fans of both teams. And they make it easy for us by educating us from top to bottom, splitting the relevant information right down the middle to make clear the true winners and losers.
Public Relations Society of America-The Strategists
The Best PR Blogs
The PR Coach Tools & Resources
