SheMentor's musings
(or, "I have a lot to say")
In the past, the word “marketing plan” conjured up images of nice presentation brochures, trade shows, or strong direct mail campaigns. While all are still incredibly useful (and in many cases, necessary), if these are your primary source of marketing in today’s business world, I encourage you to think twice.
Think twice about what, you might ask? Well, in today’s technology environment, consumers are growing accustomed to having conversations WITH companies, instead of companies talking AT them. Whether it’s leaving a comment on a blog or starting a conversation thread on some business’ forum, consumers are enjoying the two-way conversation they are establishing with companies, and this is a fact being more and more strongly established by industry research. In fact, according to a recent survey conducted by Cone Inc., a strategy and communications agency in Boston, 60% of Americans use social media, of which 59 percent of these use social media to get in touch with companies. Additional, the study reports that 93% of these social media users believe companies should have a presence on social media outlets, and they believe the interaction with their customers should involve:
- Problem solving
- Seeking feedback on products and services
- Creating new methods by which consumers and use or interact with the brand
So if your marketing plan doesn’t incorporate some significant time and investments in areas that allow you to have a two-way conversation (i.e. Facebook) instead of just a one-way conversation (i.e., paper brochure), it might be time to seriously tune your plan.
The win-win proposition that is “article marketing” is one of my favorite things to share with folks these days, because of its effectiveness and pure simplicity. Whether you are an individual looking to establish yourself as an “expert” in a given field, or you are a small business entering a very busy marketplace, article marketing is one of the best weapons you have at your disposal, and it should going forward be a strong part of both your traditional AND digital market plans.
The concept is simple, actually. By now, we all know that search engines (Google, Yahoo) love content – and the fresher, the better. But there are some business owners out there who need fresh content on their site, but for whatever reason are not willing to prepare it themselves. So, they have the ability to select and use articles given freely on article directories such as www.ezinearticles.com. The only catch is, each article has a “bio box” at the bottom of it, explaining who the author is, and directing the reader to their website. Everybody wins: the business that receives the article has fresh content on their site, pleasing their visitors and raising their rankings in the search engines. The author of the article gets valuable backlinks (also important for search engine rankings) and traffic sent directly to their site.
You might be thinking: what in the world should I be writing about?Well, start by re-purposing any existing article content you might have. Many times, it is possible to simply take your latest blog entry, and re-purpose it as an article to submit to article directories. Are there any write-ups you have done lately for a client to explain a specific principle? Is there a fairly hot topic happening within your industry right now? Use this chance to weigh in on that topic with your company’s viewpoint.
And nothing's better than now being viewed by your prospects as a strong source of valuable, FREE information, and watching you and your business continue moving toward the valued “expert” status in your industry!
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As some of you know, I am currently writing a book entitled The Jobseeker’s Guide to Online Branding. And as much fun as I’m having putting the book together, the process is EXHAUSTING, let me tell you. Now, as I’m saying this, I’m realizing that every one of you is probably working RIGHT NOW on a project that is exhausting in one way or another, because you just really can’t get through life without accomplishing a series of “projects”, if you want to think of it that way.
ANYHOO, I reached out recently to a handful of trusted advisors to take a look at my book and give me some feedback. And AS USUAL – the absolute best feedback came from my dear ole’ dad. Besides providing me with a list of things he’d “caught” in the editing stages (he is a rather well-known editor, among MANY other things, in his own field), he shared with me what he has done in the past when working on a large project. His advice was to get to about 95% of the way complete on the book, and then put it on a shelf for a couple of weeks, and not touch it. I guess this is the universe’s way of unfreezing your brain and letting creative stuff start sloshing around up there again. Apparently, when you go back to it a few weeks later, you will start seeing your project in a new light and will be able to properly give it the final “strokes” it needs to bring it to a proper completion.
I hope you can take something away for yourself from this and apply it to whatever big project YOU are working on currently. When you find yourself tensed up, not sleeping, and just generally in a ball of nerves about something, set it aside for a brief period of time, and focus on other things, EVEN if your internal deadline clock is ringing. Sometimes, all our projects can benefit from a breather.
So we’ll see if he’s right in a few weeks. But mark my words – he’ll be right. He’s my daddy.
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I am a YOOOGE fan of the author Kate White, who twelve years ago wrote the book Why Good Girls Don’t Get Ahead but Gutsy Girls Do. I got brave enough earlier this year to share with her how profoundly her book had affected me in the early stages in my career, and to see if she would allow me to interview her. As luck would have it, she agreed, and we set up the interview. Little did I know that between the time she wrote the book and the time I met her, she had become the EDITOR-IN-CHIEF FOR FRIKKIN’ COSMOPOLITAN MAGAZINE!!! Yes – THE Cosmopolitan magazine! (Obviously I’m so excited that I can’t even be cool about it). And NO – we didn’t talk about sex on this interview, but we did talk about what a tough job market it is out there right now, and how almost every industry is cutting down and cutting back. And man, did the lady have some “bang on” advice for networkers and job seekers alike – and ESPECIALLY for women in business who want to make sure their hard work is being noticed by their current employers.
If you do NOTHING ELSE this week – you need to set aside 28 minutes to sit down and listen to this interview. She is intelligent, articulate, and a complete HOOT. Sign up below to gain access to this valuable interview. (if you are a SheMentor subscriber, then you got an advanced link last week to this interview, so you could hear it before anyone else in the world – because that’s just how I roll. Now – don’t you wish you were a SheMentor subscriber?)
Please pass the word along to all your female friends, family, and co-workers – this interview has some critically valuable information in it for all women, and Kate’s message of hope and personal power is not something you will want any woman in your life to miss out on.
SO…let me know what you think! And also – would you enjoy more interviews with really successful women? If so, suggest a few for me – the more famous, the better - I’ll consider it a personal challenge!!
Click here to listen - and enjoy!
P.S. - want to retweet this blog on Twitter? Here's a suggested tweet below:
RT @shementor Interview w/editor of Cosmo magazine http://tinyurl.com/b39vuu
My friend and I recently had dinner, where we talked about how strongly our upbringing still impacts how we behave professionally. And I realized that many of us women have this in common - we are taught certain standards as a child - sometimes unconsciously - and those standards are really hard to "shake" as an adult, when you get into an environment where they aren't necessary or don't serve you very well.
Now - not all the standards we are taught are 'bad', mind you - like, "don't talk with your mouth full, PHYLLIS", or "it's impolite to play with your feet at the table, PHYLLIS" - those are GOOD standards to hold onto! (just examples, mind you, as I would never do either of those things). But my friend and I coined the phrase "the burden of the Southern Woman" as an example of standards we learned at a young age that absolutely do NOT serve us well as businesswomen. For example; in business meetings where food has been brought in, it is always my first instinct to clean up after everyone at the end. Or to volunteer to be the one who takes notes for the meeting. You get the idea. While there are certainly settings in life where it's nice and even appropriate to play the sweet, accommodating Southern belle, a business meeting where you're the only chick in the room is NOT the place for that, because of the pigeon-holing of your personal brand that can happen.
I read a book in my 20's that really changed my outlook on my own opinion of myself - Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead But Gutsy Girls Do, by Kate White. It's amazing how many opinions of yourself you stubbornly hold onto until someone holds up a mirror in front of them. In her book, Kate said really crazy things like "ask for exactly what you deserve in a performance review", and "watch your body language in a meeting - especially an automated 'head-nodding' particularly when you DON'T agree with the subject". And she made me really start looking at EVERYTHING I believed to be true about myself. And some things were STILL true, even after my careful examination. However, some notions I held true about myself simply weren't anymore, and holding onto them really held me back.
It's tough to put a mirror up against your own "personal brand" and evaluate whether or not the things you stand for still work for you or not. Even simple things, like "I'm such a klutz - I always have been" don't really have to be true if you no longer believe them and use them as a crutch for certain behaviors. There are few people willing to do the "work" of self-evaluation, but you can really strengthen your position at work, or simply your position in life - by going through the effort.
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