How to Get Clients: A Basic Primer

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:28:36 -0600

I’ve had a couple of lucky opportunities recently to talk with writers and/or PR folks trying to shovel the old entrepreneur manure into their own small businesses. It’s fun for me to talk about what I do, and it’s also fun to hear people’s ideas and give them advice that I really think will help.

One of the first questions I’m always asked is, “How do you get clients?” The answer is fairly simple: I try. And you can too, buckaroo. Here are some basic tips:

- Join a networking group. I belong to one called BNI but there are a number in Colorado that might suit your specific business or schedule. This is when the Google.com comes in handy.

Keep in touch. All those graphic designers, SEO experts, account execs, content managers and ADs you’ve worked with? Not only are they invaluable experts for you to subcontract to/ask advice of, they are all potential sources for jobs. And remember that the road goes both ways: if you give them work, they’ll give you work.

Check the ads. You never know when the perfect opportunity will come rolling across Craig’s List. Don’t give up on the job boards just because you’ve gone into business for yourself; there are PLENTY of contract and part-time positions available.

Think of other markets that might need your services. I was talking recently to a woman who wants to break into political writing and I suggested she might look for openings at PACs, radio stations and other politicized mediums beyond newspapers and journals. She hadn’t considered those options, and was thrilled to find some new avenues to pursue. As nearly everything is written (or vetted) by PR and marketing people, there are a number of positions available in a number of industries...just take your pick.

Become active. The best source of referrals are people who you know, so it’s time to break out of your shell. Take classes, talk to neighbors, go to community events, etc. and always bring your business cards and be ready to talk about yourself. Elementary? Yes. Effective? Oh yes.

Apologies in Advance

Tue, 8 Sep 2009 22:35:10 -0600

I’ve taken the plunge and enrolled in the executive MBA program at the University of Denver. Which means I’ll definitely have to resurrect all my memorabilia from my college’s annual “DU Sucks” party and bring it to the first day of class. You know, just to fit in.

Moving on to the apologies part of the post. Though I now update this blog with the frequency with which I mow my lawn or shovel my walks (once a month, more if the cops come knockin’), I’m sad to say it’ll probably suffer even more now that I have to learn financial accounting, financial reporting and statistical decision analysis...or at least read things about those subjects in a vague attempt at learning. Potato, potahto. You get the gist. My time, she no longer exist.

But as much as I’ve failed to set the blogging world on fire with this little thing, I’ll tell you one genius move I’ve made. My spin is such that I’ve started referencing it to clients as what NOT to do with a social media tool: namely, start it and abandon it. Ah, see? The genius of a public relations expert is STILL at your service.

WSJ Article: Self-Employed Don’t Get No Vacations

Thu, 6 Aug 2009 08:52:43 -0600

The Wall Street Journal had a depressing article up this week about freelancers and consultants: For the Self-Employed, It's an Endless Workweek: Recession Takes Away Vacations, Weekends as the Consequences of Missing a Business Opportunity Mount

(Also depressing? How long it just took me to format that link. Dear readers, learn from my mistakes and don’t EVER build a web site with a Mac template! Le sigh.)

Anyway, the article is basically several quotes from disgruntled/stressed/exhausted freelancers and entrepreneurs and the only quant data is about how many of us there now are:

Indeed, competition among freelancers is increasing. Guru.com, a freelance job site, saw its total membership grow to 906,979 in July, up 15% from the same month in 2008. And rival Elance.com received 131,000 new applications from freelance professionals in the first half of this year, a 40% increase compared with the same period in 2008.

Nothing super exciting here, but in my opinion, these folks are doing it all wrong. And frankly, I don’t feel so sympathetic towards them. There is a psychological theory that people only participate in behaviors that reward them in some way, so perhaps these over-workers like the drama and self-sacrifice. Perhaps they like martyring themselves on the altar of the recession. Or perhaps they’re just inefficient. Regardless of the reasoning, they’re probably not the type of people I like working with or the type of people I like hiring simply because they’re not balanced.

Vacations, weekends, family, friends: these are the good parts of life. If you find the answer to every problem is to work more, then you need to reframe your solutions.

Palin's Resignation: Edited and Fact-Checked

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:53:47 -0600

Click here to access an edited (in red), fact-checked (in green) and copyedited (in blue) version of Sarah Palin’s recent resignation speech. It’s pretty eye-opening for those who are unaware how seriously editorial staff takes their jobs, and also a good reminder for clients (erm...or writers) who get out of joint when their content is critiqued.

Online Journalism Through the Years

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:26:16 -0600

A little vulgar? Sure. A lot correct? Definitely.

via Hubs.

A New Take on E-Commerce

Tue, 9 Jun 2009 20:43:59 -0600

I like this site. The font sizes are inconsistent and you have to download a PDF to see the catalog (no.) and it doesn't have a ton of content yet but still...I like. The design is open and airy. The copy's tight. And it's not junked up with bullshit about RSS feeds and newsletter sign-ups and "OMG CONTACT US!!!!" and everything else. Think about it: every single marketing expert is preaching the same sermon about transparency and authenticity and credibility and blah blah driving sales. And this site's got almost nothing. It's almost mysterious - and wholly refreshing. Now let's see if it works.

Quantification: Some Hard Truths

Thu, 4 Jun 2009 17:37:09 -0600

One of the most frustrating aspects of PR is its inability to be quantified. PR - at its best - is a subtle little A-bomb of info that influences and affects behavior without the target ever knowing its presence. Boom. You’ve been hit.

So how then to quantify its reach? You certainly can’t survey the audience. And sales? Well, if a company’s savvy enough to be using PR - they’re generally savvy enough to have some other sales strategies in the mix. One would hope anyway. [Insert emoticon.] So that’s...um...hard to separate out. Overall reputation or, as Edelman would say, “trust?” Better - but again, have fun trying to quantify, say, women from 30-34’s views of General Mills or anything else brand-specific.

Most agencies turn to “impressions” - jacking up the numbers so that, say, if a placed story is on the cover of People then every single issue of People distributed is added to the total number of impressions.

Bullshit?
 Bullshit.

Total bullshit.

 Yet when the client wants figures, that’s what we’ve got. Well, that and Facebook friends and Twitter followers and a couple other sad little tools that measure reach and recognition. I suspect this will change - sooner rather than later - in order for the industry to keep up its dominance, but I have no idea what it will look like when it does. And from what I’ve read, no one else does either. Not even the all mighty Google.

(Oh and just a post-script: if you’re interested, there are plenty of PR people blogging about social media and PR ROI - I just haven’t seen any articles or theories that are convincing. I could just be a cockeyed pragmatist though.)

Accept the Fact That I Only Blog About Twitter...

Tue, 12 May 2009 15:00:29 -0600

Because, indeed, it appears to be the case. But Business Week online has a great slide show about CEOS who use Twitter, that I definitely deserves a look - especially if you’re confused about how to make Twitter professionally relevant. Each CEO tells his or her favorite Twitter user to follow, how Twitter helps him or her run their companies and recent “tweets.” Very, very cool - especially if you’ve had a hard time finding smart, relevant people to follow.

More Twitter Propaganda

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:14:16 -0600

There was an article in the NY Times this week (Be It Twittering or Blogging, It’s All About Marketing), that had a great little summation of the value of twittering for small business:

Last December, seeking to enhance sales, he offered free shipping and promoted it three ways. As a result, he said, a direct marketing mailing cost $15,000 and brought in 200 new customers; a billboard ad cost $7,500 and won 300 new customers; and tweeting the promotion on Twitter attracted 1,800 new customers.

Cheap, easy and effective: three ways the game is won.

How Twitter Drives Business

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:22:38 -0700

1. BroadwayPanther starts following me on Twitter.
2. After reading some of his (their?) posts, I start following BroadwayPanther on Twitter.
3. BroadwayPanther "tweets" about a photographer in Fort Collins and posts a link to more work on its (his?) site.
4. Looking for a photographer, as I am, I follow it.
5. Liking his work, as I do, I e-mail him.
6. He e-mails me back some questions about what I'm looking for and the game is ON.

Summation: Peer-to-peer referrals have the *BEST* ROI. Mainly because there's no "I" yet massive "R."

I'll keep you posted on the "O."

Soggy Grapes

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:11:12 -0700

Oh dear Lord.

The New York Observer published a godawful press release, if you could call it that, sent to them by grapeVine Public Relations (?) on behalf of a little known fashion photographer who apparently was on the U.S. Airways flight that ended up in the Hudson. A little known fashion photographer who is almost ready to talk about his experience. The release, and the subsequent deluge of bad press it has garnered online and off, is a good lesson in bad PR.

Though the whole article is worth a read, in the interest of interest, here’s the exact pitch the Observer received:

Dear All,

A grapeVine client for over a year, Nico Iliev was a survivor of yesterday's near tragic, but highly devastating US Airways crash-landing in the Hudson River.

Nico is highly traumatized by the incident, but is available to speak through his life and business partner, Don Rodrigues, for any interviews.

Please let me know if you would like to get a statement from Nico through Don. I take great sensitivity with this incident, and would as delicately as possible offer yet another perspective, through Nico's story, on this matter.

Nico Iliev is well-known for his fashion photography, having done work with fashion houses and individuals globally. He is also the sole photographer for transsexual muse and mogul Amanda Lepore.

Respectfully yours,
Stephen

Sad News for Denver PR

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:41:30 -0700

One of D-town’s top agencies, Schenkein, announced it’d be shutting its doors and laying off 11 employees.

“At one time, the agency had as many as 32 employees, but typically carried about two dozen on its roster of workers.

It specialized in consumer products, financial services, health care, real estate, retail, technology, travel and tourism and digital media.

Among its more well-known clients were First Data Corp./Western Union, Frontier Airlines, CH2MHill, TCF Bank, Coors and EAS.”

Though I know everyone there will land on their feet, it’s always distressing to see a good, small business - no matter what industry - get forced out while the biggies continue to dominate. BUY LOCAL, people.

Interesting SM Stats

Mon, 1 Dec 2008 18:27:06 -0700

I just read a piece that summed up a bunch of usage and blogging stats from 2008. Did you know:

comScore MediaMetrix reports: (August 2008)

* Blogs... 77.7 million unique visitors in the US
* Facebook... 41.0 million
* MySpace... 75.1 million
* Total internet audience... 188.9 million

eMarketer says: (May 2008)

* 94.1 million US blog readers in 2007 (50% of Internet users)
* 22.6 million US bloggers in 2007 (12% of Internet users)

Universal McCann finds: (March 2008)

* 184 million world wide have started a blog
* 346 million world wide read blogs
* 77% of active Internet users read blogs

In addition, “95% of the top 100 US newspapers have reporter blogs.” I’m shocked it’s just at 95. Who’s the holdout?

A Quote to Remember

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:43:29 -0700

...the next time your PR budget gets slashed:

“There are few disciplines in marketing communications that are as nimble and versatile as Public Relations. When a company produces an advertisement, its placement and targeting are relatively finite and narrow. With the economy in turmoil and marketing budgets on the decline, brands can still turn to PR to get the message out... The ROI is evident in the ability to provide a surround sound approach through all facets of the media - print, online, TV, radio and social media are all targets within reach.”

- Rob Manfredo, KCSA Strategic Communications

Snake Oil?! Why I Never...

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:14:37 -0600

Social Media Consultants: Snake Oil or Value Add? is an interesting piece over on ZDNet that tries to weigh the benefits of paying (heavily) for a social media consultant to help your company brand itself online. Perhaps uninterestingly, I agreed with most of the points. In particular:

“Companies need to stop believing the hype that social media is an ‘everything drug.’ It’s not. It’s a strategy that needs to be considered and tailored to fit specific business needs.

“A business strategy should not be altered to fit social media; the social media approach needs to be altered to fit the business strategy...”

The key point of the article is that companies should not be pressured into launching social media campaigns by consultants who prescribe tactics in the school of “all social media is good media; all companies need good media.” I am not surprised that many consultants are pushing these sort of campaigns onto their clients without analyzing the individual effectiveness of the campaigns. I mean really, social media is cheap, easy, and - most importantly to consultants - often doesn’t have a measurable ROI. Further, some clients don’t have a clue about these applications, so a consultant’s accountability for the success of the strategy is completely minimized. What’s not to love?

“Another thing to consider is that regardless of how much planning you do in regard to a social media strategy, the end result needs to be an authentic line of communication between your company and your constituents. Parking a Twitter ID and dishing out blog posts is not engaging with customers. Creating a static Facebook group isn’t, either. Companies who engage in social media practices need to accept two very important things: 1) You need to get a little warm and fuzzy and 2) You need to give up a bit of the marketing control.”

At the same time, social media is not the right fit for all companies. That is clear. And when you have companies that don’t have the resources, manpower or understanding to effectively harness this tool - and you push them into it anyway - that’s where the trouble lies. I do feel that a poorly operated social media campaign is infinitely more harmful than no social media campaign at all...and that is something companies really need to recognize. And consultants need to be honest about. No one embarks on a new marketing initiative with failure on the mind, but realistic goals and concrete methodologies can help everyone involved manage expectations and control risk.

Online Usage Stats

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:13:07 -0600

PR Week just wrote about a new, 2000+-person survey regarding online usage. While not surprising, the stats might be useful when pitching a new campaign (or justifying your job!).

Highlights:

69% relied on e-mail to share information
(64% of adults and 60% of youths ages 13-17)
More than 50% of youth use instant messaging, YouTube videos, and wikis to share content
30% of youth use notes on social networks
41% of youth use text messages to share
Less than 1/3 of adults say they learn about new content from these types of sources.

Silver Linings

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:41:44 -0600

I’ve had an awful week. My scrappy little kitty, Walter, decided to go AWOL on Saturday night and has not been seen since. And while our hearts are certainly bleeding over the situation, this is a media-related blog so I’ll try to minimize the histrionics and focus on the positive: the amazing social networking and related resources I have found to help me through.

As you might expect, once I decided that action needed to be taken, I turned to my typical source of information, the Internet, to figure out what to do. My first stop was to post an ad on Craigslist in the “Lost and Found” section. All well and good, but I soon discovered the site has barriers in place to prevent me from cross-posting in the “Pets” section. Seems counter-intuitive, sure, but it’s easily surmounted. With a little manipulation, I changed the ad enough to get it in both sections. I have since deleted and rewritten the two twice to get the posts to the top of the page. And plan to do it again this afternoon. Ah, what desperation can accomplish.

Soon after posting these, I received two e-mails from women giving me lists of other resources online, including sites I could post his information on as well as sites that will scan all the intake information from area shelters and send you possible matches. The e-mails also gave me advice about contacting shelters, vets and local pet stores and the like to further spread the word. I was heartened to see that someone would perform such an altruistic service for a total stranger. It was very helpful. And encouraged me to do the same when I found a possible match at a shelter to a missing one on Craigslist. Unfortunately, it was not the same cat, but it made me feel good to reach out and try to bring resolution to someone in a similar situation.

Another interesting piece I discovered was that many shelters now post digital pictures and descriptions of their intake animals online. Score one for technology! And while I still visited two shelters and the city pound in person, the fact that I can scan the entries looking for my beloved whenever the panic strikes has made me, at the very least, feel a little bit more in control of the situation.
 I suppose if there is a silver lining in this situation, it’s that I have been able to use Internet interactivity to connect with people and organizations who, in various ways, have helped me handle this. A few friends of mine in the area even posted Walter’s information on their personal blogs and linked to his pictures on my Flickr account. Which made me melt at the kindness of it all.

Hooray for the Internet. It may not have brought my cat back (YET), but this experience has served to remind me both of the web’s vast capabilities and its vast impact. It seems that - for all their benefit - analyses of new technologies sometimes fail to accurately capture the importance of the Internet in enabling strangers to help and guide other strangers in times of need. So now that we’ve gotten this far the question is, how can we expand this even further?

Do As I Say...

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:54:30 -0600

I am constantly preaching to clients the importance of keeping their web sites active and updated. Not only does it help build an internal appreciation of branded communications and create a cohesive and consistent voice through which to reach targets, but it - on the most basic level - does wonders to improve search engine rankings. Yet, look at me...ignoring this blog. How very “cobblers kids have no shoes.” I bow my head in shame.

Of course other, more pressing, issues have taken precedence. Billable work is, as everyone knows, the name of the game. And, when you’re being paid for your time, sometimes back-end initiatives are the ones that fall through the cracks. It happens to everyone. It just does. For instance, I worked for a marketing company in New York that never did any self-servicing marketing or advertising. At the time, I thought it was foolish but understood that my bosses didn’t have the hours or resources to pursue self-promotion. I don’t want to operate like that and more importantly, I don’t believe in operating like that. So it’s time to take a serious internal audit of my own promotions, or lack thereof, and make some changes. That is, as soon as I slog through all the research, writing and paperwork I have to do this week. And get my finances in order for next month’s estimated tax payment. And, you know, walk the dog.

Fond Remembrances

Wed, 6 Aug 2008 12:15:16 -0600

Let’s all bow our heads for a moment at the unfortunate passing of the trendy, irritating and non-existent word impactful.

It pains me to be among the first to break this but it has been confirmed that impactful flung itself off a cliff in the Scottish moors in the early morning hours of August 6, 2008. Prior to its death, bystanders report that impactful spoke at length of the shame and devastation of its creation by - and use among - otherwise intelligent marketing, advertising and PR executives.

RIP impactful. We will miss you, yes, but look forward to finding comfort in the arms of other senseless corporate jargon. And don’t worry, we’ll be sure to bury you outside the box.

Yo Adrienne

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 20:27:31 -0600

This is the image that comes to mind every time I have anything remotely resembling a success at work.

I only wish I were kidding.

Social Media Spin

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:28:16 -0600

As any educated consumer of media is aware, ALL media - no matter how “unbiased” or “spin-free” it may purport to be - represents certain views. As any practitioner of PR knows, this can be used to great advantage. However, I suppose I naively have been ignoring the somewhat hidden implications of this in socially driven sites such as Wikipedia and Digg. Well no more! The veil has been lifted.  Mashable printed an article this week, Is Social Media and Democracy Doomed?, that (somewhat confusingly) quotes a quote from Lawrence Solomon of The National Review explaining how his repeated attempts to edit a Wikipedia entry on global warming were deleted. Solomon writes:

“I made the changes again, and this time confirmed that the changes had been saved. But then, in a twinkle, they were gone again. I made other changes. And others. They all disappeared shortly after they were made.

Turns out that on Wikipedia some folks are more equal than others. Kim Dabelstein Petersen is a Wikipedia editor who seems to devote a large part of his life to editing reams and reams of Wikipedia pages to pump the assertions of global-warming alarmists and deprecate or make disappear the arguments of skeptics.”

I sent the article to my brother, a dyed-in-the-wool Republican, and he wrote: “Little Green Footballs, a blog I read gets buried instantly the second they post something on Digg. It's like there are people just sitting there to bury conservative writings and views. Pretty pathetic if you have so little faith in the arguments of your side that you have to hide the views of the other side so people won't know they exist.”

Regardless of your political opinion, free press or free speech or whatever you want to call it only works if it’s truly free. If Wikipedia or Digg choose to operate this way, they should be called upon to be transparent about their agendas. And people, including me, must continue to be both wary and aware of this disturbing phenomenon.

Rock the Vote

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:52:27 -0600

I’m not sure who I’m going to vote for yet, but I’ve got to say: Obama’s new web site, Fightthesmears.com, which is responding to each myth or “smear” written about him and his family, is an incredible idea. I love it.

Trust Barometer

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:39:40 -0600

There may be no tool I find more helpful in PR analysis than Edelman’s Annual Trust Barometer. Granted, I once worked for them - and not only drank, but BATHED IN the Kool-Aid - but still, that barometer serves up some stone-cold awesome stats that have amplified and enhanced my pitches and presentations time after time.

Above is the “Trust in Spokespeople” graph, found in Steve Rubel’s Micropersuasion blog. His analysis is: “Some 58% of opinion elites 35-64 in 18 countries said they trust ‘a person like me.’ Meanwhile, only 14% trust bloggers - a figure that has largely remained flat since 2006.”

This lends me some pause, however, when I think of the Venn Diagram (NB: I am obsessed with the Venn Diagram and will make a point to reference it whenever possible) possibility of a blogger being “a person like me.” Does this mean that for all their transparency and revelations of intimate details, bloggers aren’t quite yet considered to be on par with Joe Blow on the street? (Albeit a Joe Blow who’s “like me.”) What will have to change to achieve that shift in readers’ minds? If candor and wit and insight don’t work, how will bloggers have to present themselves to reach this level of trust? How will bloggers have to present themselves to become peers?

Horse Biscuits

Mon, 2 Jun 2008 12:48:38 -0600

Andrew Cohen (legal analyst for CBS News) has released a disturbingly inaccurate and biased piece about the public relations industry. While the “on-camera essay” was built around Scott McClellan’s revelations about his work representing the current administration, Cohen takes the subject many, many steps further to excoriate the entire industry. As one might have predicted (and is shown in the comments section of his piece), flacks are up in arms about his assertions, some of which follow below:

- “Show me a PR person who is ‘accurate’ and ‘truthful,’ and I'll show you a PR person who is unemployed.”

- “The reason companies or governments hire oodles of PR people is because PR people are trained to be slickly untruthful or half-truthful.”

- “During the time it took me to write this essay I'll bet dozens of PR people blatantly lied to their audiences, despite the presence of proclamations declaring that they should not.”

Although I question the value of adding my two cents at this juncture, I will say that this guy is flat-out wrong. The whole challenge of PR is to get a client’s message across by being truthful. If you’re not, your reputation - and your relationship with the reporters trained to uncover such lies - disappears in an instant. There is no “regaining trust” in PR. Lie once, and the egg’s not only on your client’s face...it’s on yours.   But bear in mind that this unfounded, industry-wide castigation is coming from the same news outlet that persisted in showing Danny Pearl’s decapitation in direct disregard to his family’s wishes. So, I guess sensationalism must be served at any price, especially when it comes to CBS News.

Using Social Media to Resolve Customer Complaints

Thu, 29 May 2008 11:46:36 -0600

The Consumerist covered Comcast’s new initiative to address customer service issues. It seems they have assigned a “fireman” the dubious job of responding to Comcast-related complaints on blogs and Twitter.

“The sometimes customer service deficient cable company Comcast has a new ‘fireman’ whose job is to respond when people blog or Twitter their customer complaints. Frank Eliason's unenviable task is to watch the blogosphere and reach out to posters when they kvetch about Comcast. He's a nice guy, he's reached out to help some our reader's posted complaints, but he's not omnipotent. This article covers two people customers contacted by Eliason. One of them got their problem solved within a day, the other was still waiting for a solution a work-week later. It is Comcast, after all. Still, if regular customer service isn't helping you, try blogging or Twittering your problem and maybe the magic customer service fairy will visit you! Also, his Twitter profile is comcastcares and his email is We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com.”

While I think this is definitely a step in the right direction, and extremely reminiscent of the Starwoods Resorts campaign launched a few years back, the commenters on the post are much more skeptical. One reader wrote:

“The regular customer service channels should get the job done. They don't. So Comcast decides to roll out this added channel while tooting its own horn.
What do they want, a cookie? Their customer service channels still don't work, and this Eliason dude admits that he can't fix everything.”

Granted, an idea like this is a tough sell if your company is constantly denigrated for its lack of customer care, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t at least try to resolve some of the issues and complaints in every forum available. If the normal channels aren’t generating the satisfaction you (or your bosses) would like to see, well then, be transparent about the problems, be transparent about the steps the company is taking to resolve them, and try some new communications campaigns to regain trust and reestablish leadership. Be committed to your strategy and you likely will persevere, regardless of what the doubters say.

How to Format Press Releases for Search Engines

Fri, 23 May 2008 12:17:33 -0600

There’s a little piece on Bnet (I can’t seem to get that link to work, but trust me - it’s there) about how to add web functionality to your press releases. Seems both basic and easy to implement. In summation:

- Add active URLs everywhere you can in the release (including both company names and key phrases)

- Do keyword research and put them in the first 65 - 70 words of the piece as that’s all the Google bots will pick up

- Optimize engine rankings by making sure your key words only make up two to five percent of your content

Dial D for Dialogue

Thu, 22 May 2008 13:20:16 -0600

I’ve been chewing through some pretty heady PR concepts all morning. Fact of the matter is, I’m working on a Powerpoint presentation for a potential client and jumped on the opportunity to further flesh out my thoughts on monologue vs. dialogue in terms of consumer outreach. (Monologue, of course, being the result of traditional media engagement; dialogue being the result of social media engagement.)

As I came to the end of this delightful treatise, however, I got kind of jazzed up about all the glorious possibilities of a dialogue and wrote a series of questions that I think would behoove* any business owner to answer when considering how to best position themselves and their business:

Who are you?
Are you your company?
What is your primary goal?
Who is your audience?
How do you want to reach your audience?
What does your audience think of you?
What do you have to offer?
What do you have to say?
Why should we be interested?

Regardless on where you stand on the business benefits of social dialogue, your overall messaging will sharpen if you find and believe in the answers to these questions.

* Did you know behoof is the noun form of behoove? As in, “...using public funds to their own behoof.” I love that.

Top Tips for a Successful Webcast

Wed, 21 May 2008 17:05:15 -0600

A few weeks ago, Marketing Vox published its ten tips for launching a solid podcast. (The title of this post may have stolen my thunder on that one a bit.) I know I’m one of the last of my breed who never listens to podcasts, but I also know their value and relevancy to a large number of consumers. They’re also a fast, cheap and modern way to populate your site.

Here are the tips in summary, but the article is worth a read:

1. Plan (and publicize) your podcast schedule
2. Make it RSS-accessible.
3. Keep it short.
4. Don't waste time hard-selling your product or service.
5. Segment your podcasts into different areas to help readers best navigate the content.
6. Simplify podcast management so you can focus on developing content.
7. Submit your podcast to popular directories.
Build a compelling podcast web site with its own web destination and bonus features.
9. Let web site visitors commune with each other.
10. Measure and analyze.

Both the Iguana and I Welcome You to the New Site!

Mon, 19 May 2008 15:07:52 -0600

After much hard work and perseverance on the part of my lovely web designer Angela (not pictured above) the Brevard Neely Consulting web site is up and ready for business!

While most of the site will likely remain static, the blog is where I’ll be posting musings and semi-interesting factotums about the Venn diagram-ish intersection between public relations, social media and consumer engagement. So feel free to add a comment or send an e-mail if you have any suggestions or areas of interest you’d like to see covered. Thanks for visiting!