Posts Tagged ‘leadership’

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Spread The Word About Your Business Through Social Media Internet Marketing

Sunday, May 2nd, 2010

Hundreds of social media websites are online, the largest being Facebook, Myspace and Twitter. Anyone who has been involved in Internet marketing for more than a few hours undoubtedly knows that social media marketing can be very worthwhile in terms of return on investment (ROI). The trick is how to use it effectively to maximize ROI and increase profits using social media Internet marketing.

Facebook, Myspace and Twitter all have more than 10 billion page views every year. Other sites have fewer than one billion page views every year. The people who use Facebook and Twitter tend to be females over 35. Myspace is used mostly by teens and musicians.

Deciding whether to market on one or all of the big three networks or to focus your attention on smaller social networks (where there is likely to be less competition) is a choice you will have to make. Once you decide where to market, the steps you take to build your business are essentially the same.

Your first task upon signing your business up with a social networking site is to complete your business’ profile and create a fan page. You can target specific groups of people to match the audience who might want to be a fan of your business. The key is to post interesting information to your fan page that will not be perceived as only an advertisement. Post videos, information about your specials, sales, contests, events and other interesting information about your company, its employees and customers.

Depending on what your business sells, you may want to create a group. Groups attract members who have common interests. A sports-related company may have a group where people interested in sports can come to talk about sporting events, games, technique and other topic, for example.

Using social networking sites to market your business is not an instant money-maker. It takes time and energy to cultivate friendships, fans and to moderate groups correctly. Social network marketing is definitely a long-term strategy that can pay off very well for your company if it is handled well from the beginning. On the other hand, if this type of marketing gets off to a bad start, making a bad impression, it is very difficult to recover from that kind of mistake. It is worth your time to learn how to do social media Internet marketing properly before you get started.

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Author And Book Marketing Tips

Monday, April 5th, 2010

If you write a book, chances are you want it to be successful in order that you are able to continue writing for a living. When you just start out, it may be difficult to be able to afford public relations services to promote your book. So how do you get your work known on little-to-no budget?

Funnily enough, many authors are making money by writing books about how to promote books. These may or may not have all of the answers, but they certainly have the right ideas. They advertise online. For just a few dollars for a web page (or maybe a free web page, when you can find it) you can get numerous Google hits. Use the new technology we have. Make YouTube videos, advertise on Facebook, do anything to ensure people hear about you.

If you are a small town author, it is all the better. Living in a big city gives you access to the biggest publishers and agents, but writing a book there is no great news for anyone. In a small town you are far more likely to be noticed. The newspaper will want to interview you, the local news station will do a story on you, book stores may want you in for a book signing. Take advantage of every single one of these opportunities, because they will not come around again.

You want to give just enough information about the book to make people interested. Do not talk too much about it or give anything away. Be a professional and think about the business of you. Every story or interview is just like a job interview. Do not say anything off-color or make stupid jokes. You do not want to risk alienating a single person. Make sure you are well spoken but do not try to sound ‘too smart’ and risk sounding like an idiot when no one has any clue about what you are talking about. Not everyone knows critical theory or the Laconian or Derrida point of view. Keep it simple and entertaining.

Be professional, be courteous, be humble, and make your audience wonder a little. Remember that if you are in a rural area, people will say, “I remember that person from high school!” or “That’s So-and-So’s child!” They will want to see what you have accomplished because there is a definite history there.

You cannot be shy when it comes to advertising. Do absolutely anything you can (without making a negative impression of yourself). Do commercials, be in local magazines, even put up fliers yourself. You must be a business person. Sign autographs at a local book store. Make deals with companies who promote you and give them a cut of books they help you sell. You goal is to climb to the next tier of celebrity and then the next, as selling your book is your livelihood.

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Increase Profits With Corporate Communications Using Publicity Marketing And Promotion

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

There are many ways to increase the results a company is achieving from their marketing, but there is one approach that any company can take that is particularly effective. This strategy is known as corporate communications using publicity marketing and promotion. This advertising technique generally consists of the use of free gifts and other promotions to attract new and existing customers towards a company’s products.

If you want to use this type of marketing for your business, you should be aware that there is truly no right or wrong way to use this type of marketing. When you are creating your marketing strategy, it is always a good idea to analyze what is working, as well as what is not working, for the other companies operating in the global economy.

Most customers within the global economy are always on the lookout for a good deal. These customers are certainly attracted to free gifts and other types of giveaways too. When you use this type of marketing, you are placed in a great position to create a buzz around the products and services your business provides.

If you do not want to spend a great deal of time and money on your promotional offerings, you should be aware of the other marketing strategies that you can implement in order to increase the amount of awareness your company receives. Also, if you want to attract many customers, while still building a strong relationship with all of your customers, you may want to take advantage of the strategies that use a variety of small gifts, rather than one large gift, in the giveaway your company offers.

Any company that wishes to utilize corporate communications using publicity marketing and promotion should always take into account that the primary purpose of this form of advertising is to increase the communication that your company is maintaining with customers. A relationship with customers is more likely to increase the amount of sales a company makes compared to a company that places no emphasis on building relationships with clients.

When you are attempting to build relationships with your customers, it is likely that you will discover this to be an incredibly challenging task. Many customers have their own lives and relationships to worry about. This makes them less eager to enter into ongoing communications with your company on a regular basis. For this reason, many companies have realized that portraying an idea or concept is generally much easier to do.

Even though it is often considerably difficult to create a relationship with customers, you should certainly not discount the importance of this process. If you can build a relationship with customers, you will be in a great position to create a loyal relationship. When you have many loyal relationships with customers, you will be in an even better position to create a steady stream of revenue for your business. The longer you can stay in touch with the customers you are communicating with, the more likely it will be that you are creating loyal customers too. You should keep all of these factors in mind during the creation of your marketing campaign.

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Get Publicity Now On Radio, TV, Internt And Print

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Publicity is a great way to let others know of your business, your products or your book. But is it easy to get booked on radio shows, TV shows, in newspapers and magazines? It is when you know the publicity strategy to get you in the door that you can be successful. The media appreciates a prepared professional but you don’t have to be a career publicist to act and look like one. You need to know what it takes to get the media’s attention, prepare and pitch. You can enjoy publicity and exposure just like your competitors.

The right publicity tools are key to success. Before your first call to the media, create the materials you will need such as a press release, press kits, video demo or audio demo. If you have everything you need ready in advance, when the media asks you to email your media bio or view your media demo you can get the requested materials right over to them without delay. Once you capture the media’s attention, you have to act fast to keep it. Any delay in sending the materials or doing what they ask you to do next, may cost you the media opportunity.

It’s a good idea to build a set of goals for yourself. This way, you can target certain shows or media placements you would like to have in advance. Once you identify where you want to go, you can contact the outlets to be sure you are connecting with the right media people. When you identify your target contacts at your target media you can start the pitching process. Knowing the right people in the media who work in your area of expertise and pitching directly to them will save you a lot of time. Start small so you can learn the ropes and then go into the bigger markets or media placements. Starting small allows you to make a few learning mistakes without doing too much damage to your plan.

Be sure to read the newspapers you want to target, subscribe to your target magazines and start following the stories and the journalists before you start pitching. You want to create your best chance of success and one way to do this is to build up a rich history of knowledge on what your target media has covered and how they covered it. This way, you don’t waste time and opportunity by pitching a story they just covered. You can pitch the logical, next level idea that increases the chances your target media will be interested.

The media has a sharp eye and can spot a beginner. It is risky to work with a beginner because of the confidence factor and the untested nature of a beginner. The media wants rock solid experts for their commentary and any uncertainty that you have in your ability will stick out like a sore thumb to them. Your pitch call is an audition for you. If you sound afraid, shy, or stumble on your words the media will be hesitant to book you on the show or quote you as an expert. Practice makes perfect and the idea is to practice your presentation and pitching skills first, before you call important media. Consider media training as this is a fast track to removing the fear and gain the skill set to look and sound like a professional publicist.

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categories: motivational,management,leadership,self help,viral marketing,coaching,success,entrepreneur,online promotion,press releases,publishing,networking,public relations,sales

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How To Be A Thought Leader Expert To Attract New Clients

Monday, February 1st, 2010

Add lots of buzz to your business, your reputation and your standing in your industry by becoming a socially relevant expert. It’s not hard to do this and once you do, you’ll get high quality attention and attract new clients. Begin by following the major internet news sites and spot the stories that pertain to your area of expertise. Choose to follow these stories as they develop so you can have a history of knowledge on the story. Start to form opinions about these news stories based on your own expertise and knowledge.

The perfect format for becoming a socially relevant expert is to create a blog. It’s formal enough so that you will give it your best shot but not intimidating so you don’t do it at all. Get started forming an opinion about the news in your area of expertise and write your reaction and commentary about the issues on your blog. You will get the chance to learn how to form and opinion and express your opinion in short sentences that are known in the publicity and media industry as sound bites. Keep your content fresh, relevant and based in the news of the day. The media wants to stay next level and cutting edge in their reporting so keep your commentary on what is happening right now.

Many people wonder how often they should blog. Blogging everyday is a great start but certainly when there is a news event where you can offer insight and commentary. You want to keep your finger on the pulse of what is happening right now in your industry so as soon as the news breaks, get blogging. This way, you will know exactly what is happening in the stories you are following.

Stay current and stay cutting edge. This is what being socially relevant is all about. Don’t worry, after several weeks of blogging you will soon get the hang of it and be able to create insightful commentary very quickly as you will have a history of knowledge at hand as well as some practice writing in shorter, more concise sentences and thoughts. The more you know about your industry and its challenges and the more answers you have to help your industry the more in demand your services will be.

Always stay original. It’s your thoughts and commentary the media and your clients want. They don’t want you to be someone else, they want you to be you. Only you have the perspective that comes from your unique set of circumstances, knowledge, education and experience. Never borrow commentary from anyone else. Use your own stuff and soon you will find that you know a lot more than you thought you knew. You simply started to apply your own skill set to the issues at hand. Blogging helps you stay original and get creative. You going to love blogging!

Want additional strategy on getting publicity? Experience tremendous success now so you can advance to all new levels of success. author marketing is essential and expert marketing is critical. So enjoy publicity now!

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Marketing And Publicity Tips For Self Promotion

Monday, February 1st, 2010

Writing a book is a life-defining experience for a writer. It can be very difficult when the author realizes that their book has not defined anyone else’s life. This is especially true when you rely upon the book for your livelihood. You must get people to buy and read it. But how? What are the best author and book marketing tips?

Funnily enough, many authors are making money by writing books about how to promote books. These may or may not have all of the answers, but they certainly have the right ideas. They advertise online. For just a few dollars for a web page (or maybe a free web page, when you can find it) you can get numerous Google hits. Use the new technology we have. Make YouTube videos, advertise on Facebook, do anything to ensure people hear about you.

If you are a small town author, it is all the better. Living in a big city gives you access to the biggest publishers and agents, but writing a book there is no great news for anyone. In a small town you are far more likely to be noticed. The newspaper will want to interview you, the local news station will do a story on you, book stores may want you in for a book signing. Take advantage of every single one of these opportunities, because they will not come around again.

You want to give just enough information about the book to make people interested. Do not talk too much about it or give anything away. Be a professional and think about the business of you. Every story or interview is just like a job interview. Do not say anything off-color or make stupid jokes. You do not want to risk alienating a single person. Make sure you are well spoken but do not try to sound ‘too smart’ and risk sounding like an idiot when no one has any clue about what you are talking about. Not everyone knows critical theory or the Laconian or Derrida point of view. Keep it simple and entertaining.

Dress well, too. If you do not dress professionally for public appearances, what makes anyone think that you can write professionally? Play up your contacts, you affiliation with local schools or business or sports teams. Make people proud that you came from their area. Keep in mind that people know your parents or remember you from high school. They want to see what you have done with your life.

Do not be afraid to put up fliers and do television spots. Network as much as you can, cash in favors, and do not burn any bridges. You will need as much help as you can get in moving your publicity up to the next level.

For more tips about appearing on TV shows, Radio Publicity and Business Strategy using the media now. Enjoy the outstanding benefits of marketing and promotion for yourself and your business.

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Become A Top National Expert For Outstanding Career Success

Monday, February 1st, 2010

To be a top expert in your field you will need to have a vast knowledge of the issues facing your industry. Don’t worry, it’s not hard and it’s not a lot of work to do this. The first thing to do is to identify your major areas of expertise and then create sub-categories that reflect the reality for each one. For example if you are a career expert you can talk about how to get a job in a tough economy, how to get hired when everyone else is not, or how to position yourself to get hired in the future. You see, there are lots of ways to apply your talent and knowledge to the issues at hand.

Your professional and expert BIO is the first thing you need to create. Pack it with evidence that you are an expert in the field such as your education, awards, recognitions, accomplishments, associations you belong to along with a list of any previous publicity or media placements you have received. Your bio should support your area of expertise and leave out the personal information that does not matter to the media such as hobbies or how many kids you have although you can mention the location of your nearest major city as sometimes the media likes to know where you or your business is located. Create a list of the shows you want to on, or the media you want to get into and build a list of contacts at the media outlets. You will introduce yourself to your media contacts and then once a story hits the news where you are qualified to provide talking points you can connect with your contacts. They already know you and it will be more likely they will choose you for the opportunity.

Get positioned with the media in advance so you will be set up and ready to go when a story or news events emerges that is perfect for your commentary. An example is about a career or workplace expert who can comment on the industry events from workers losing their jobs to the unemployed going back to school. If a news event happens, such as a new jobs report or unemployment report coming out, your expertise, commentary and analysis will be in demand.

Once you spot a news event where you are the perfect person to comment, let your contact list know about the event and be available when they call you. Let them know your availability and certainly be ready to drop everything to give an interview or head down to the TV studio. Be sure to know in advance, the media’s style. You do this by watching your target shows, following the journalists on your lists and reading the magazines or newspapers and visiting the internet news sites daily.

Media training is your key to success. Invest in a few good sessions that teach you how to be a top notch media analyst. Everyone has some trouble spots they need to address and media training gives you the chance to make these changes in advance of your TV spot or radio appearance. Some people speak real slowly with a lot of “ummmm’s” throughout their commentary. This style of speech is not appropriate for the news or an interview on the radio or with a journalist as it does not compel anyone to listen and most people watching or listening will get distracted. Plus, speaking without command of your knowledge pegs you as an amateur and the media will have no choice but to move on.

Access more tips about creating expert status by Accessting TV publicity. Experience the outstanding success to your career by Accessting publicity on tv and other media such as radio, newspapers and internet news sites. Plenty of resources available to help you go to all new levels of success.

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Transformational Leadership: 5 Tips For Leadership Communication

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

When we think of leadership communication most organizations focus on information tools. These include intranet sites, staff magazines, CEO blog, Town Hall meetings and so on. Whilst all these employee communication methods are to be applauded, they inform employees about what is going on. To truly engage employees in the process of change, for instance, a merger or acquisition, a re-organization, financial results or corporate social responsibility, leadership communication methods need to be designed to actively engage employees.

The fundamental difference between employee engagement and information is the former focuses on changing employee behaviour to support the achievement of business objectives. The latter is about providing information to employees about what will change, when and why.

These following 5 tips illustrate how you can ensure leadership communication will achieve desired business outcomes.

1. Step one is reviewing all the current tools and methods you use to communicate with employees. You need to scrutinize the content of that communication and determine whether it is one way information or whether some could be adapted as an engagement tool.

2. The second tip is important because your ultimate aim as a leader has to be to create the “Aha Moment” for employees. The “Aha Moment” is based on information that challenges the employee’s belief about an aspect of the business. The information that suddenly helps employees say, “Now it makes sense”, “Now I understand”, “Now I can do something about it”. Once you know what the “Aha Moment” is this will form your key message and the basis of your design of your employee communication strategy.

3. This third tip explains the best type of research to find out what the “Aha Moment” is, and the best type for this purpose is focus group research. Focus group research allows you to ask employees about your business and their thoughts on competitors, to identify the largest gap between what customers think and what staff think customers think, and to identify what would create a paradigm shift in employee’s thinking. It also helps you identify how you will measure the impact of your leadership communication strategies in the change in employees thinking and to determine how significant it is to achieving the business objectives.

Benefits of focus group research are that they are a good format for allowing topics to be explored further and frequently will uncover issues or ideas which hadn’t been considered prior to the session. Focus groups generally are held for one and a half hours duration and in groups of 8 – 10 participants. The facilitator should lead the discussion but leave the actual dialogue to the participants, and steer them around to the main issue if they have gone off topic and to ensure that all the topics that you wanted to cover within the timeframe allocated are. Well facilitated focus groups identify the key messages to focus your leadership communication strategies on as they relate to specific business objectives.

4. The fourth tip is that once you have the focus group outcomes, you can then begin designing leadership communication strategies that engage employees. You should have a clear understanding about what employees know and what the facts are, and the gap between the business facts and staff perceptions. This forms your key message to create the “Aha Moment”.

5. Step five is all about taking the information you have gathered from the focus groups sessions and with that identify a business goal that you feel confident that your leadership strategies will impact. Use of that research data forms an essental part of your leadership communication strategy that can be measured by business achievements.

When you have gathered all the outcomes of the focus groups you will then be in a position to identify the key messages and data to bring about change in your organizaiton. Transformational leadership is about understanding what is of concern to your employees and what they need to know to support your business objectives. Development of an employee engagement strategy that focuses on “Aha!” moments and information is the essence of transformational leadership.

For more information make sure you obtain our excellent free report on how to design transformational leadership strategies.

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Don’t Miss These Branding And Marketing Tips For Competitive Advantage

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Don’t worry, you dont’ need a lot of money to edge out your competitors when targeting and marketing to land new clients. It’s about branding and marketing for success. The foundation of a strong branding and marketing program begins with the concept of over-delivery. Make sure you are prepared to do more for the client than any of your competitors can deliver.

It’s about creating a domino effect. Offer products and services that tap into the exact needs of your target client. Offer services that your target businesses can use to create success for themselves and their clients. This way, you become important to your target clients success.

Use the media to help you brand yourself as an industry leader. Branding is essential to marketing. Make sure you are seen and heard in your target clients business space as someone who is smart, strong and making a different. Get booked on radio and TV shows as a guest expert. Don’t forget to go after publicity opportunties where you are asked to comment on relevant issues in your industy. You clients will love to see you out in the media making a difference.

Make a difference in the lives of your clients. Teach them what they need to know to excel using your products and services. This way, your business becomes an investment for them in that they expect to earn a return on their purchase with your company. Also, by actively engaging in your client’s success, you fuel your creativity to build new products and services that truly meet the needs of your marketplace and avoid the products and services that lead to nowhere.

Again, be sure you know your client’s business model and how your products and services can help them be more successful and influential in their competitive strategy. Brand yourself as being key to thier success and understand that if you help your clients earn more money, land new clients themselves your products and services will be in demand.

Find more information on business promotion using publicity. business marketing can be easy when you know the publicity secrets to creating tremendous success for yourself.

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Face to Face Communication Key to Easing Employee Communication

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

A great way to stop the uncertainty often felt by your employees is to create an environment of confidence by communicating with them well and often. In difficult times, the rumor mill works overtime among your employees and you need to respond to the rumors fast. It is critical for senior management to talk freely and honestly with the workforce in order to keep the rumors in check. This article gives five strategies to help ease employee anxiety and stop the rumor mills in their tracks.

1. Be Accessible

Senior management should make it a priority to be seen by and accessible to their entire workforce. It is key that, if there are problems or challenges that the company is facing, you do not wait until they have been resolved to let your employees know. Rather, keep them apprised as to the steps the company is taking and the progress it is making as the situation evolves. In challenging times, it is even more critical to be there and available to your employees. It is not only important to communicate and to share with your employees, but to establish confidence in the company in order to keep the rumors and gossip to a minimum.

2. Be Open About Bad News and Challenges Within the Organization

You have nothing to gain by withholding bad news from your employees – they know times are tough and that your business will have to adapt in order to survive. If you try to pretend that everything is perfect, your employees will lose their trust in you, and communication will become harder. Letting your employees know when changes need to be made is the best thing you can do to stop rumors. When employees trust you to tell them the bad news, they will stop believing office gossip and wait to hear the truth from you.

3. Aim to Give Personal Information

A majority of bad news is communicated through memos and e-mails. While it may seem more time effective when every second counts, workplace productivity is effected by such impersonal communication. Studies prove that in-person communication develops confidence and is understood better than a less personal approach. True, you may be faced with questions you aren’t prepared for, but that is okay. Employees don’t expect you to know all the answers, but have real appreciation for your effort at keeping them part of the process by talking directly to them.

4. Be Attentive

Face-to-face communication is two-way, which is a massive advantage. You will often find that your employees have great ideas that can help you, but listening doesn’t have to be about finding answers. Your employees will be motivated by the knowledge that their ideas and feelings are valued, and it can help them engage with the business and with you.

5. Acknowledge the Unknowns

It is important to be honest when talking to your employees, both about what you know and about what is still unknown. Because people understand that no-one can know everything, it will build conviction and understanding if you can detail what is still unclear. If you are unsure about the future, it is better to discuss the prospects for the company and probabilities for success rather than making promises that might not be kept.

The only way to get the best out of your employees is through communication, the foundation of good management practice. Regardless of the company’s situation, make it a goal to always communicate openly, truthfully, and frankly.

Wendy Mack is a professional mentor, trainer, and author with a focus in leading and communicating change. Contact Wendy at, or get her free e-book, Transforming Anxiety into Energy at www.WendyMack.com.

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