Posts Tagged public relations
The Magical World of Networking
Posted by admin in social media on October 21st, 2009
I’ve been working my magic in public relations for several years now. I don’t put much faith in magic, especially when it comes to my career and my agency’s reputation. I do, however, believe in the power of networking. Once you feel comfortable networking, you gain a profound advantage in business and that is when the magic happens.
Networking is a huge part of any communications based career, from advertising to marketing to public relations. Even with social media, networking is a crucial skill to possess. You may already think you are the master at networking; you never miss a grand opening, you have over 1,000 Facebook friends and three times as many Twitter followers, and you were recently asked to speak at the black tie children’s shelter benefit. Bravo!
Even if you are the creme de la creme… and trust me, I meet a lot of you, there are still a few key points to keep in mind when you network. Whether you are attending an event, or joining an on-line conversation (social media) or having a one on one encounter, these tips should help you be a bit more aware and prepared.
1. Always think about your intention when you enter into any networking situation. Ask yourself if your intention is genuine and if it will shine a positive light on yourself, and your company. Are you there for new contacts? Sponsorships? Resources? Friends?
2. Knowing your intention leads to the next tip, which is to remember that networking is a two-way street! Be genuine about your intentions and think about how you can help others. How you can add value to others. Don’t be afraid to offer up a resource or contact that might help them.
3. Go early and stay late. This is a tough one with our busy schedules and loved ones, but often some of the best connections come from the quieter moments of the events with less chaos. I am usually one of the first to arrive at events.
4. Always be present and engaged. Look people in the eye when you meet them, stay present throughout the entire conversation. Stop checking your cell phone for e-mails or texts. I see a lot of people doing this during luncheons or awkward moments of silence. I used to do it myself, now I breathe through the uncomfortable silences. Our cell phones have become this security blanket people use when they are at a loss for words or have just entered an uncomfortable situation. If you stay present and remember your intentions, those few moments of discomfort will be worth all your new connections.
Contributed by Joie Tamkin, Associate Director of Public Relations, c.a.k +associates
9 Marketing Tips from a 6-Year Old’s Lemonade Stand
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on August 3rd, 2009
I was reading some marketing articles the other day and ran across this one by Jim Lodico, a freelance commercial copywriter and marketing consultant. It talks about the basics of marketing and how business owners can apply the principles to help increase sales. It is a little “self-help” approach to what c.a.k.+associates does for businesses every day.
What marketing tips can you get from your child's lemonade stand?
“The other day my daughter, Sophia, announced that she wanted to set up a lemonade stand.
Seeing as how I didn’t really want to spend the better part of my weekend selling lemonade, I tried to talk her out of it by showing her how much she’d need to spend to buy the lemonade mix, get the cups, that sort of thing.
Regardless of my best efforts, there was no changing her mind. She wanted to go into business and there wasn’t anything I was going to do to stop her.
So as I succumbed to my role as venture capitalist in her first business startup. I decided that at the very least, this would be a great chance to teach my daughter about counting money, basic business principals, that sort of thing.
We sat down with a pad of paper and started writing the business plan.
It didn’t take long before Sophia, becoming completely exasperated with my efforts to teach her about price structure and ROI, looked up at me and said:
“But Daddy, I just want to give it away. Our neighbors are so nice, I just want to give them the lemonade.”
Wow! What do you say to that? She hit me with a complete game changer that I didn’t expect.
Suddenly, the lemonade stand had taken on an entirely different meaning.
So we put away the business plan, she drew up a sign and my wife helped her mix a pitcher of lemonade.
Just as we were about to open for business, Sophia came in from the back porch with a sprig of mint she had cut from a pot.
“Can we put mint in the lemonade?” she asked. “I want to make it extra special.”
And with that, on a Sunday afternoon in a quiet neighborhood, she was open for business.
Within a few minutes, one of our neighbors who had heard about the project came over with 50 cents to buy a glass of lemonade. Twice the price my daughter was originally planning to charge.
“But it’s free” Sophia told her.
“That’s OK. I want to pay you for the lemonade”, she replied.
Not knowing what to do with the money, Sophia put it in a cup and set the cup on the table (where everyone could see it).
Before long, more neighbors came by, each one giving her at least 50 cents. When a car would pass, she would jump up and down and scream, “Free lemonade” hoping they would stop.
For the most part they didn’t. However, at one point, one did and the driver handed her three dollars for his glass of lemonade – 1,100 percent more then if she’d gone with her father’s suggestion of 25 cents per cup.
By the end of the day, Sophia had made a whopping eight dollars at her “free” lemonade stand.
When it was all said and done, I realized that although my original business lessons didn’t stick with my daughter, I learned a lot about marketing.
Here are nine lemonade stand tips that you can use to market your services:
1. Give people something for free and they will feel obligated to return the favor
When you help someone, it creates a natural desire to return the favor. As a web designer, provide helpful tips on your blog, participate in forums offering advice and helping non-designers, share ideas on Twitter. In doing so, you’ll not only build trust, but also develop relationships with potential clients.
2. Give potential customers a taste of your offerings
Offer free themes or templates with an easy upgrade to “pro” versions. Provide free stock graphics that hint at potential identity or branding packages while demonstrating your creativity. Just be sure to make it good. When users are excited about the base product, they are much more likely to upgrade.
3. Make it “Extra Special”
Don’t just offer lemonade. Put in that extra sprig of mint. Make everything you do something “extra special” and clients will take notice. Not only will they come back for more, they’ll tell their friends.
4. Don’t Be Afraid to Tell Your “Neighbors” (Network!)
One of the first things my daughter did when she opened her stand was run next door and tell the neighbor. After getting his lemonade, he called two other neighbors to tell them about the lemonade stand – both of whom came right over with “donations”. Don’t be afraid to tell friends and colleagues about your services. You never know, they may talk to your next big client later that day.
5. Do What You Need to Do to Be Seen
It wasn’t enough to just put up a sign. My daughter’s advertising consisted of jumping up and down screaming “free lemonade” at passing cars. While it might seem extreme, it worked. How are you “screaming” about your business?
6. Be Persistent
Even though most of the cars passed by, my daughter didn’t give up. Finally, after many failed attempts, one of them did stop—doubling her income for the day.
7. Build Anticipation
My daughter’s first customer knew about her project and was there as soon as it opened. Don’t just launch your new web site, let people know it’s coming. Drop hints, show them screen shots, make them look forward to the big day.
8. Find Good Partners
My daughter’s little brother kept drinking the lemonade – not the best partner. However, her friend from down the street was out there with her jumping up and down screaming, doubling their advertising efforts.
9. Advertise Your Popularity
Once my daughter’s cup started filling with coins, people were more likely to “donate”. Don’t be afraid to advertise your popularity. Place download counters, comment counts and subscriber numbers in prominent places. Just make sure the stats are high enough to warrant a little bragging.”
Written exclusively for WDD by Jim Lodico. He is a freelance commercial copywriter and marketing consultant. You can learn more about his services at his website www.jalcommunications.com
Corporate Approach to Social Media a Major #Fail
Posted by c.a.k. + associates in Uncategorized on June 4th, 2009
Awesome article by Lindsey Allen:
Too often, archaic strategies undermine the efforts of those with hands-on networking experience
If you watch ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” or TBS’ “My Boys,” you know both shows have delved into the social media realm in recent weeks. The questionable results drove home a larger point about how companies and organizations are handling social media.
On one of the last “Desperate Housewives” episodes of the season, Tom Scavo returned home from a job interview, distraught that he’d “become irrelevant.” He lamented to wife Lynette that he’d been stumped by a question about “(using) ‘Twittering’ as part of a marketing campaign.”
Setting aside the notion that the writer may have had the character reference “Twittering” (rather than “Twitter” or “tweeting”) to illustrate his ignorance,
the ensuing dialogue was painful to digest. Clearly, the writer wasn’t someone who uses — or even truly understands — Twitter.
Just a couple of days later, an episode of “My Boys” focused on Facebook. Although the references were accurate, they were outdated — about 18 months too late, probably. I bet there is someone on the show’s staff who, if consulted, would have said, “Shouldn’t we be focusing this episode on Twitter instead? Or at least talking about more current Facebook-related topics? (The never-ending stream of LivingSocial quizzes, perhaps? Or the relatively recent ‘25 things about me’ flood? Terms of service controversy, anyone?)”
As I watched these shows, I wondered, “How can someone who doesn’t really get this stuff be the one whose job it is to write about it?”
Then it hit me: This is just like what’s happening in the business world when it comes to building social media strategies and developing social media policies.
Mining in-house expertise
Companies/organizations should be calling upon their social media-savvy employees to take the lead on engaging the company in social media initiatives and teaching others how to use social media tools. Why not engage in-house social media experts in strategy building, as they’ll know the tips, tricks, and shortcuts to make your social media communication more timely, relevant, and effective? Plus, they’re the ones who probably will end up executing the plans, so why not give them that sense of ownership?
Instead, it seems that an old, ineffective business model is being perpetuated here. You know, the one in which people with little or no knowledge of “task X” are sent to workshops to learn how to do it, or perhaps a new position is created to manage “task X” when there’s already someone in the organization who understands its finer points and could easily incorporate it into his or her duties, even if it meant shuffling around a few responsibilities to balance out the workload?
A similar area of concern is the development of policies for employees’ use of social media on the company’s behalf and on their own. (I’ve heard IBM and Intel cited as examples of best practices in social media policy, and there are plenty of other policy examples on the New PR Wiki as well).
My previous employer did not have a social media policy, but the idea, in general, made sense to me. I had my own “social media policy”; I referred to it as “common sense.” Apparently, though, I am the exception and not the rule, which is why more organizations are developing formalized policies.
Working in a vacuum
I recently had a conversation with someone whose organization is developing a social media policy. However, it was being developed by people who don’t use and/or fully understand social media.
Wait. What?
People who don’t understand the ins and outs of social media tools and who call upon younger employees who are social media-savvy to explain things to them and others are creating a policy by which the people who actually use and understand the technology must abide … without their input? How does this make sense?
It doesn’t!
Developing social media policies in a vacuum is illogical. How can a policy be effective if you haven’t consulted the people to whom it actually will apply? I’m not suggesting the consultation be of the “do you think this is fair?” variety; that essentially would be letting the inmates run the asylum, as the old saying goes.
Crafting a comprehensive policy
What I’m suggesting is talking to the organization’s social media users to determine which tools and technologies they are using, and how; concerns they have regarding how they should manage their online presence, as well as that of the organization (if they’re being called upon to do so); and suggestions for potential policy items.
This conversation could produce almost everything that should be included in an organization’s social media policy — perhaps even issues that the C-suite and managers did not even know about or understand before.
Don’t you think the buy-in from existing employees would be much more likely if they felt the policy’s creation was a collaborative process rather than executives quietly making a bunch of rules about something they don’t understand and then enacting a policy that doesn’t address relevant issues or, even worse, creates more confusion than clarity? (Then there’s the “approval from Legal” issue, but I’m not even going to touch that here.)
Bottom line: Organizations are missing the social media boat by not consulting — and subsequently not empowering — their potential social media champions and capitalizing on their knowledge and ideas to ensure relevance, timeliness, and that all-important buy-in.
Lindsay Allen is a recently laid-off higher education public relations professional and former journalist who is using her layoff time to freelance, as well as to learn more about social media in PR and marketing.