Archive for December, 2012
Thursday, December 27th, 2012
As the New Year approaches it’s time to begin thinking about New Year’s resolutions, which might also be referred to as “strategic planning” — although those words tend to strike fear into the hearts of even the most focused of business professionals. I don’t know why, but I’m coming to accept it as a given. One of my resolutions for the New Year is to come up with a way of making planning less intimidating. “Good luck” say my business colleagues. But, I digress…
As you look forward to 2013, what are the fundamental issues that most impact your organization? What are the opportunities you hope to take advantage of? What are the challenges you hope to overcome? Here are a few tips to get you started: (more…)
Tags: goal setting, goals, New Year's resolutions, planning, strategic plan, Strategic Planning, Strategy
Posted in Business Development, Marketing and Branding | No Comments »
Thursday, December 20th, 2012
I was interviewed recently for a blog on the use of perks to drive social media engagement. It’s an interesting topic and judging from the proliferation of such contests and competitions online an important one. Aside from questions related to the efficacy of such competitions, businesses should also be aware of–and knowledgeable about–the impact of these perks on their desired brand image and the laws related to contests, sweepstakes and lotteries.
(more…)
Tags: Advertising, brand, Brand Management, contests, marketing strategy, perks, premiums, promotions, Sales, sweepstakes
Posted in Marketing and Branding, Marketing Communication, Promotions | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 18th, 2012
Like many writers/PR people, I have been fortunate to have experience in both worlds. As a freelance writer for a number of years I often turn to PR professionals and publicists for assistance in finding sources. And I learn a lot from them about what works and what doesn’t in terms of providing journalists (me, in this case) with useful information. I use the things I learn with my “freelancer writer hat” on when I’m attempting to generate PR/media coverage for my business or my clients.
I’ve learned a lot from the bad examples I see from over-zealous, inexperienced and annoying PR people or “experts.” (more…)
Tags: Journalism, journalists, media coverage, media relations, pr, public relations, reporters
Posted in Media Relations/PR, PR and Media Relations, Publishing | No Comments »
Thursday, December 13th, 2012
I’ve been working productively from home for a number of years, first as a freelance writer (part-time) on nights and weekends and, for the past four years, as a full time marketing communication consultant. My interest in remote work, or telecommuting, stems back many years to when I worked with an organization that was going through a merger. It was highly likely that the corporate headquarters would be in a new location and I was not interested, or able, at that time to relocate. So I was curious.
Based on my own experience as a freelance writer for a number of years I knew firsthand that, yes, it was possible to establish client relationships and deliver value to those clients from a distance. But, would that same model be embraced incorporate settings? Could I, for instance, find a role as a director of corporate (more…)
Tags: effectiveness, efficiency, productivity, remote work, Strategic Planning, telecommuting
Posted in Business Development | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 11th, 2012
As I work with clients, or evaluate social media sites as part of the research I do on the topic, I frequently find that many sites–even those owned and managed by some top organizations–are more engaged in conversations with themselves than with interested followers or fans. They’re not sharing information that is of interest or value to their audience–they’re talking about themselves! That’s a strategy destined to fail. Why? (more…)
Tags: blogs, Business development, communication tactics, facebook, linkedin, Sales, Social Media, twitter
Posted in Business Development, Healthcare Communication and Marketing, Internet Marketing | No Comments »
Thursday, December 6th, 2012
Despite the fact that study after study continues to support the critical role that employees play as ambassadors (or detractors) for the organizations they work for, not all organizations are focused, as they should be, on their staff first. If you’re interested in boosting your marketing, you need to first start inside–with your employees. Seem a bit counter-intuitive? Maybe. But consider that, particularly for (more…)
Tags: branding, communicating with employees, Employee Communication, employee engagement, employees and your brand, employees as brand ambassadors, Healthcare, your brand
Posted in Internal Communication, Marketing and Branding | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 4th, 2012
Should small businesses use local advertising? While this is one of those questions that can quickly be responded to with “it depends…,” if the market is a local one I do tend to believe that local advertising makes sense. And I’m not alone. Consider the increase in local online advertising among many marketers. Local online advertising was predicted to surge by 18 percent in 2012 to $18.5 billion
, according to paidContent.
The bigger the world gets, the more opportunities to leverage a small circle of influence I think. Just as when generating followers, friends and fans through social media (more…)
Tags: Advertising, Community Relations, Healthcare, local ads, local advertising, Marketing, online marketing
Posted in Competition | No Comments »