Pinterest is piquing interest

December 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you found Facebook addictive, you might want to stay away from Pinterest. Pinterest logo 300x75 Pinterest is piquing interest

What is it? Pinterest calls itself an online pinboard. It’s a social network where people post images and videos. You can categorize your images, comment on and like images others post, connect directly to Facebook if you want.

And it’s definitely habit-forming. It’s easy to ‘pin” your favorite things — including products, places and people, so your Pinterest account quickly begins to reflect your personal style. You can browse and re-pin images you find, as well as hit the “like” button.  Read more...

Filed Under: Branding, Social media Tagged With: ,

Google+ and Facebook Timeline: How tight is your story?

November 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Facebook rolled out Timeline a few months ago. As you might guess, it’s a chronologically based interface that enables individuals – and soon brands – to tell their life stories in various media, including video and photos.

Timeline will also enable brands to introduce integrated apps, described as ‘frictionless” for their ability to seamlessly fit into people’s Timelines. (You may have already seen this in the Spotify notifications of what your friends are listening to.)

If you’re marketing a business, the question is, where is Timeline for brands? Well, it’s not here yet. Meanwhile, you can (and should) create a Google+ page for your brand right now.

Why? It’s another way to get in front or of your prospects and existing clients with streaming content that connects and engages.  And while Google+ is far behind Facebook in terms of registered users, it does integrate many of Google’s other tools and functions, including Picasa and YouTube, and with Google’s unmatched search-engine capabilities, it will clearly deliver traffic.

 Read more...

Filed Under: Social media Tagged With: , ,

How life imitates river rafting

July 17, 2011 By 2 Comments

Homer gave us the Odyssey.  The Grateful Dead told us about what a long strange trip it’s been. Both were sharing an essential truth: Life is a travelogue. Time passes, stuff happens and the scenery keeps changing. This is the story of our lives.

Scores of artists have tapped the same allegorical vein. I mean, “Don’t Stop Believin’,” one of the most awesome tunes ever, was sung by a band named Journey, right?

So as I was paddling down the San Juan River in Utah with my son last week, I couldn’t help seeing parallels between our three-day sojourn, and the epic trip we’re all on every day of our lives.  Read more...

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: , , ,

Now more than ever, it’s publish or perish

July 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

“Publish or perish” used to be a truism of academia. Today it’s absolutely true in the business world.Trust

And by “publish” I don’t mean barfing out tweets of motivational quotes and status updates about what you had for breakfast.

I mean telling your story with care and precision. Producing relevant, substantial content that’s optimized for human comprehension by your ideal client, as well as keyword-optimized for the search engines.

Why? This is how you reach your prospects now. When someone wants to solve a problem, they Google it. They conduct a search from their desktop computer, or increasingly, the smart phone they carry everywhere.  Some of them are looking for exactly what you have to offer. So how do you make sure you show up in the search results?  Read more...

Filed Under: Social media Tagged With: , , , ,

You’ve got a great story to tell, right?

July 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Most marketing experts would tell you that a major holiday weekend is not the ideal time to launch anything. I’m going to anyway.

Hey, I like doing things unconventionally. What could be more American that that?

So today I am launching an unconventional new service. It enables experts to command more focused Blog to Book programattention than they can get through the endless stream of tweets, texts and status updates.   And aren’t we all experts at something?

In brief, I am helping people who have great content leverage that content by converting it from spoken to written form. Professional speakers are my target market. (But you don’t have to be a speaker to have expertise and a great story to tell.) The route is via transcription, to blog and Facebook, to book.

That’s right, Blog to Book!

There are serious benefits to this approach, not the least of which is better search engine rankings, which translate to higher visibility, increased stature, and ultimately, great earning power.

Why me? I am a professional writer. I was a journalism major and worked for newspapers including the Los Angeles Times before I got into marketing copywriting for TEC/Vistage (the world’s largest CEO membership organization, and playground for professional speakers) and other endeavors. I also authored four books along the way.  Read more...

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: , , ,

Get off the dime with social media

June 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you’re running a business, there’s no shortage of advice on what you should be doing with social media marketing. It’s all the rage, and ‘experts’ are coming out of the woodwork.

“You’ve gotta get on board!” they’re telling you. You know what? They’re right.

But let’s assume:

  • You realize this stuff could help you reach more customers.
  • But you’re already insanely busy.
  • And you aren’t ready to immerse yourself in Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, YouTube, Groupon, QR codes and other new technologies.

Further, let’s suppose that you’re struggling in some way. Your business is stuck or stagnant, or you just want to improve your marketing efforts and increase your sales.  Read more...

Filed Under: Social media Tagged With: , ,

Why do you need a content strategy?

May 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

You have a business strategy, right? How about a content strategy?strategy 300x202 Why do you need a content strategy?

You have marketing messages on your web site, at your Facebook page, in your email campaigns, on Twitter – all over the place. Does every message going out there support your business goals?

A content strategy aligns ALL of your messaging with your business goals. So ALL of your messages are coherent, congruent and consistent.

Trained as a journalist and experienced as a marketer, Tom Stacey can help you create and execute a content strategy that targets the right people with the right messages. A skilled story-teller, Tom can help you articulate your value proposition in ways that will attract prospects and further engage your current clients and customers.  Read more...

Filed Under: Social media Tagged With: , , ,

Where to start with your message

June 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Any effective act of communication begins with the message sender’s regard for the message receiver.

It’s second nature to most creatives, but clients are not always clear on this from the outset. So, assuming the foundation of a solid brand, here’s my basic creative brief. It consists of four simple questions:
- Who is the audience?
- What do we want them to know?
- What do we want them to feel?
- What do we want them to do?  Read more...

Filed Under: Branding, Marketing

How to generate lots of LinkedIn recommendations

April 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

After a friend lost his job recently, he asked me for some help. linkedIn recommendations1 How to generate lots of LinkedIn recommendations

Specifically, he wanted to beef up his LinkedIn profile with some glowing recommendations — which is a great idea.

It’s always better to have others brag about you than to have to do so yourself. Especially when you’re trying to impress a prospective employer. This is someone who is going to decide if they want to live with you for 40-plus hours per week. If this works out, you’re going to be closer than family. So you want to avoid bragging about your brilliant career until they just want to punch you in the face.  Read more...

Filed Under: Social media Tagged With: ,

Is there a pitch doctor in the house?

March 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

There’s a lot of noise out there, and it’s harder every day to be heard above the ruckus. So when you have an important message, you must deliver it in succinct, compelling and memorable fashion.

If you’re running a business, now more than ever, you must have total clarity about your brand and the value you deliver, so that you can reach and influence the right people, quickly and effectively.

Your secret weapon in this effort is what’s become known as ‘the elevator pitch.’  Read more...

Filed Under: Branding, Marketing, Social media Tagged With: , ,
« Older Posts