PR In Your PajamasPR In Your Pajamas

Social Media Marketing: How to Get More Done, In Less Time

Elena — Thu, 23 May 2013 13:06:49 +0000

As I listened to presentations in social media marketing events and read emails and comments from you, my readers, the pain was clear:

Social media marketing takes too much time!

So when I was at Social Media Marketing World, I cornered Ian Cleary, founder of RazorSocial.com and expert in social media tools and technology.

What tools does Ian himself use every day — both free and paid — to save time while getting results in social media? Watch this video to find out:

No time to watch? Here’s a rough transcript:

Elena: What’s the best free tool you recommend?

Ian: One of the best tools I use is Hootsuite. Hootsuite has a free and paid version, I use the free version. One of the reasons I use it is because I can filter tweets into different columns to make it much easier for me to manage. Also when I’m sending information, I can send a tweet, I can send a LinkedIn status update, and a Facebook update to my business page — all from the same tool. And I’m still not spending any money. This means I can get my content onto multiple platforms very quickly. Hootsuite is one of my favorites.

Elena: And do you have paid tools you guys love ?

Ian: There’s a couple of paid tools we use. One of them is called Nimble. Nimble is a social relationship manager. What happens is, as you build up a lot of followers on Twitter and LinkedIn, it’s very hard to keep track of the conversations you’re having with them. What Nimble does is, it allows you to bring all the conversations within Nimble so you can start tracking them. I find a hundred people who are really influential and I track them within Nimble. I could track all the conversations they’re having, or I’m having with them through LinkedIn, Facebook, or any of these social media platforms all within one tool. That’s very useful, too.

Elena: Do you have a tool that you just can’t live without, that you use daily?

Ian: Actually Hootsuite I use daily. I couldn’t live without Hootsuite. Sounds very sad but, yeah, I couldn’t live without Hootsuite. I also use another app called Buffer App.

When you’re on social media you need to start delivering good content to your audience. I’ve seen your Twitter profile, and I know that you deliver a lot of good content to your audience.

Buffer app is a tool. When I find good content, I might sit down and read a lot of articles all at one time. There is no point in me sending that out all at the same time. My audience might not even be there at that time, so I click a little button in my browser for Buffer, and Buffer takes that piece of content, and puts it into the queue. The queue is is pre-determined by yourself. So you set out a schedule, and then if you have 10 articles, then the content is delivered according to that schedule. So you might have something going out at 10 this morning, 12 o’clock, 2 o’clock, 4 o’clock. All I do is click on that button. It’s great for sending out content like that.

Elena: How is that different from Hootsuite? With Hootsuite you could schedule as well right? Or is it a curating and scheduling tool?

Ian: Well, Buffer is automatic scheduling. Within Hootsuite, you can go in and you’d set the time and date, whereas in Buffer app, you just click the Buffer button and it automatically goes into the queue. It sends out based on the times you configured already.

Your Thoughts?

Which of these tools are you already using? Which ones are you going to try?

I’m already using — and loving — Hootsuite. I’ll have to look into Buffer App. It sounds like something that would really come in handy.

Let me know what you think. Submit a comment below, or send me a message on Twitter or Facebook. Looking forward to it!

Why You Haven’t Attracted Your Ideal Client Yet And What You Really Need To Do

Elena — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:27:48 +0000

When you’re running a small business, time, energy and money are your most valuable resources. Those resources are usually in scarce supply so you have to pay even greater attention when trying to attract your ideal client.

What is an ideal client?

Put simply, an ideal client is a specific group of people who share the same common traits and problems that your offering (product or service) can help them resolve. They buy what you are selling and provide your company the best word-of-mouth recommendation to their friends and networks.

Answering WIIFT

I’ve encountered countless lifestyle entrepreneurs and small business owners who are passionate about a product or service they’ve developed, without ever really thinking WIIFT – What’s In It For Them – and by “them” I mean their customer. If you don’t do this, it just leads to frustration for people landing on your website (or store) who can’t find what they’re looking for, and for you, because you wonder why no one is buying what you are offering.

In finding your ideal client, you need to know with clarity:

Who They Are
What You Are Really Good At
What They Are Willing to Pay

It’s where the three intersect that you will find your ideal client. If you feel you aren’t attracting your ideal client, or enough of them, you need to go back and consider:

You don’t know them well enough

I know this sounds really simple but in my experience of working with work-at-home entrepreneurs all the way to high-growth businesses generating hundreds of millions in revenue, the question “who is your customer” can be a stumper. Just like when you start dating someone, you have to ask lots of questions in order to get to know them. How else will you both know if you’d like to jump into a long-term relationship?

In describing your ideal customer, you want to take into account both demographic and psychographic information.

Demographic data tells you more about the person and includes things like:

Age
Sex
Where they live
Job title and salary
Marital status
Education

Psychographic information tells you why they buy your offering and helps tailor your marketing messages:

Who influences their buying decision?

Are they a mother who does most of the grocery shopping? Is he a husband renovating the house but checks with his wife on all the finishing? Do they ask friends for word-of-mouth referrals or use social media?

What are their spending habits like?

Do they buy high-priced items and like known brands? Or are they more conservative and looking for value?

What type of information are they looking for and where do they look?

Do they want customer reviews and testimonials, customer support, or detailed product information? Do they search online and what keywords are they using in search engines?

What is their relationship with your company?

Have they bought before and what was their experience? Did they buy at full price or when things were on sale? Have they also bought competitor offerings and if so, why? What are some obstacles they have to overcome to buy your product?

As an example, the company Girl Two Doors Down mostly sold their “bling flip flops” through retail channels in its eight years in business. Last year they finally launched an online store and a social media presence. Previous to that, because so many celebrities were wearing their flip flops, the company believed that customers who bought their shoes at stores were “celebrity shoe” obsessed females, based on the West coast, in the 25-35 age range.

From Facebook data and email surveys, the last year has shown that customers are mostly coming from the East coast, with a high percentage coming from New York and New Jersey, and their shoes have a much wider age appeal of 18-65. The company also noticed a loyal customer base: repeat customers have a much higher overall purchase – sometimes up to 500% more than a new customer. This information opened the company’s eyes to different marketing ideas and will help improve efficiency for their editorial calendar, targeted Facebook ads and ways to eliminate stumbling blocks for the first-time buyer.

What you’re really good at isn’t really what they’re looking for

When I started this blog a few years ago, I was writing for a micro entrepreneur with an early stage business who was “time-strapped and cash-crunched.” My goal was to teach do-it-yourself PR techniques to those who couldn’t afford to hire my agency.

While I had a lot of success stories, I also attracted entrepreneurs so time-strapped that they didn’t have time to focus on consistent PR outreach. Yes, PR can be free, but it can take time, which unfortunately they didn’t have.

For a micro entrepreneur, there was also the fear of pitching reporters (while tweeting with strangers or interacting on fan pages doesn’t carry that same fear). Micro entrepreneurs want immediate sales, and PR is higher up in the funnel, generating awareness and building credibility for a new company for example.

Blogging consistently has helped evolve my audience naturally. I now know that my ideal client for this blog is someone that can be in the early stages of their small business, but they likely have someone else to help with their marketing efforts even if it’s a virtual assistant or part-time employee.

Many of my readers are marketers for a small business. That’s because the owner of the business is busy growing the business and working on it, not in it.

You’re not charging the right price

Pricing is always a challenge and there are pros and cons to either end of the spectrum – high or low. What’s important to remember is that the only way a business is going to survive is if it’s profitable. So if you love serving a certain clientele but they are not buying – perhaps consider that a passion project and don’t close the door on other types of clients that are willing and able to pay for your offering.

Six-figure launches or seven-figure yearly revenues don’t matter if your costs are high.

When pricing your products or services do you know:

How many units you need to sell, or how many clients you need to service?
Is that number achievable?
Is there an entry-level offering your client is looking for?
Is there a high-end offering your client is looking for?

Going back to the shoe company as an example, after realizing that once customers buy their high-end flip flops, they become repeat customers who buy several pairs on their next order, the company offered an entry-level shoe that is on average 25% less than other designs.

In the service or knowledge business, entry-level products might include ebooks or webinars. High-end offerings for Internet marketers include live events for their clients, and business coaches have intensive mastermind programs, for example. I offer exclusive VIP days several times a year – the chance for small business owners to work with me one-on-one for a full day on their business.

What about you? What is one lesson you have learned about finding and serving your ideal client? I’d love it if you posted your challenge or success in the comments below, and please tweet, pin and share this story!

I am blogging on behalf of Visa Business and received compensation for my time from Visa for sharing my views in this post, but the views expressed here are solely mine, not Visa’s. Visit http://facebook.com/visasmallbiz to take a look at the reinvented Facebook Page: Well Sourced by Visa Business. The Page serves as a space where small business owners can access educational resources, read success stories from other business owners, engage with peers, and find tips to help businesses run more efficiently. Every month, the Page will introduce a new theme that will focus on a topic important to a small business owner’s success. For additional tips and advice, and information about Visa’s small business solutions, follow @VisaSmallBiz and visit http://visa.com/business

5 Elements of Strategic Public Relations

Elena — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:04:50 +0000

Here at PR in Your Pajamas, we talk about the various PR tools at your disposal. However, there’s a danger of missing the forest for the trees. That is, being preoccupied with individual tools and losing sight of the bigger picture.

Talk to a PR consultant and many are hired when something urgent comes along: a new product announcement, a major customer comes on board, something negative happens and there is a crisis in reputation management or the stock price takes a dive. At this point, it’s tempting to take a shotgun approach to PR: solve a specific and time-sensitive need. However, it’s better to approach things strategically.

Strategic PR maximizes your resources to ensure you meet your business’ most important goals. Here are the key elements:

1. Goals and Objectives

Strategic PR means you know where you’re going and part of that is assessing the past. If your company received media attention in the past, look at the coverage – was it positive, neutral or negative? Who are the journalists covering you or your industry that you need to build relationships with, and what story angles worked well?

Your PR objectives need to contribute to the overall corporate goals otherwise it will never be recognized as mission-critical. Consider these statements a CEO might make:

“We want to COMPETE in the (middle-market segment of your industry)”
“We want to OWN (a high-end segment with huge potential)”
“We want to DISRUPT (a niche segment you’re not currently considered a player in)”

You will want to be able to show exactly how PR contributes to these bigger goals.

Beware of setting PR objectives which cannot realistically be accomplished with PR, or with PR alone, such as getting stakeholder acceptance of leadership changes in the company, raising venture capital, or increasing sales by 35%.

2. Audience Focus

You also need to ensure you’re clear on which specific target audiences you want to reach, and have done the research on how best to reach and influence them. For example, you know their current views on your product or company, which messages and themes will resonate best with them, and which communication channels are best for reaching them.

This kind of laser focus on your audiences is the foundation of our Messaging Blueprint. You can have a free copy of the blueprint by filling out the form below:

3. A Clear Execution Plan

When PR objectives, audience research, and messaging are completed, you can formulate a clear and realistic PR plan with strategies and tactics such as a news release calendar, media relations, contributed or by-line articles, speaking opportunities, award applications, case studies and of course, blogs and social media. Your plan should leverage timing for key product or service announcements and growth or expansion milestones so that they are maximized and you are not releasing all your major news all at once.

4. Data Driven

Decisions you make on your PR campaign needs to be based on data and not plain instinct or “a hunch.” Where data is available, use it to better understand your market and competition. By compiling data using Google Analytics or PR software from Vocus for example, you can track and assess the impact of your PR activities. For example, you might want to track:

Are your media mentions brief or did you get more lengthy profile pieces this year?
How are you perceived against competitors in these articles?
Did your SEO press releases actually help your website move up in page ranking?
How many sales leads and conversions can be attributed to a white paper/giveaway downloaded on your site?
Did you see a spike in social media activity when you released your news?
Has your customer acquisition cost been lowered because of PR?
Are there specific sites (news or blogs where you are mentioned) that consistently send more traffic to your website?

This will help you make intelligent decisions about making adjustments, abandoning other activities, and scaling up others. Base your actions on results, in order to get even more and better results.

5. Synergy and Alignment

Strategic PR leverages past campaigns, and is aligned with your marketing and sales efforts. It is not fragmented, disjointed or scattered. Rather, there is a consistent and coherent theme running through all your organization’s efforts.

If you are at a major tradeshow for example, your media influencers will be there. Schedule meetings at your booth.

Or, leverage a CEO or business owner’s time. If he or she is based in California and they are traveling to London for business meetings — are there journalists or bloggers to meet with? In this day and age of online networking, Skype and Google hangouts, nothing beats a face-to-face meetings to build relationships, especially if you’ve traveled a long way to meet someone.

These are the 5 elements of strategic public relations. Which elements do your PR campaigns already have? Which are missing, or could be improved on?

I’d love to hear how you’re doing and where you need more support to get more visibility for your business.

Please leave me a comment below!

It’s Time for Mobile Marketing… Yesterday

Elena — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:27:33 +0000

Don’t look now, but mobile-friendly marketing is now de rigueur.

More and more people are accessing the internet through their mobile devices. In fact, Microsoft Tag estimates that mobile access to the internet will overtake desktop access by 2014.

When it comes to social media, an increasing number of people are using their smartphones and tablets to access Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. According to a report by eMarketer, 46% of those surveyed accessed social networks from their smartphones in 2012, while 16% used their tablets.

Emails are also increasingly consumed in mobile devices. Based on March 2013 statistics, 43% of email is read on a mobile device. We’re seeing the same trend in PR in Your Pajamas: 50% of our subscribers read our emails on their iPhones.

Clearly, mobile marketing is something you can no longer ignore.

But is mobile marketing for everybody?

In the video below, mobile marketing expert Jamie Turner, explains what type of business needs to go mobile RIGHT NOW:

Prefer to read? Below is the video transcript:

Elena: Are there specific businesses that are better suited to mobile marketing?

Jamie: That’s a great question, very common question, too. You can think of the relevancy of mobile on a spectrum. On one side of the spectrum, if you’re a cement manufacturer, mobile may not be your thing. And on the other side of the spectrum is, if you’re a retailer, mobile is big, big, big for you, so it’s really important to be in mobile. In the middle are B2C, B2B companies and most of us fall into that category. If you’re a retailer, you have to be in mobile.

Mobile is important, here’s why: When somebody is coming out, let’s say, a movie theater, one of the first things they do is “Hey! Let’s go out for dinner now.” What do they do? Open up their mobile device, they do a search for “Italian restaurants.” If you were not showing up on that search, then you miss out on that consumer. Final point to remember, 50 percent of all Internet searches are now done via mobile so if you’re not there to meet them, they will meet your competitor and that’s bad news for your business. So get into mobile if you can and in particular, if you’re a retailer and especially if you’re in B2C.

Making your online marketing more mobile-friendly doesn’t have to be hard or expensive. Here are some easy ways to get you started:

Make your website mobile-ready

What does your website look like when it’s viewed on a tablet or smartphone? Is it hard or impossible to read and navigate? If you’re using WordPress, it’s easy to display a mobile version of your site using a plugin like WPTouch. It’s simple to use and free. In fact, we’ve recently installed WPTouch here on PR in Your Pajamas. Check it out on your phone or tablet.

Test your emails on mobile devices

When you test your emails before sending them out (you do test them first, don’t you?), preview them on your smartphones and tablets, too. Do lines break up when they’re not supposed to? Are images too large? Small? Is the subject line so long it gets truncated in a way that doesn’t make sense? Maybe your graphic designer spent hours designing your latest newsletter, but it doesn’t display properly on small screens.

Find out and make the necessary adjustments to ensure a good mobile experience for your readers.

Increase your mobile awareness

Include mobile metrics when measuring and tracking your marketing results. For example, Google Analytics now shows how many of the visits to your site were made on a mobile device, including what specific devices they used. When you have the chance, survey your audience about their use and preferences when it comes to mobile devices.

How mobile aware are you? What steps will you be taking to make your content more mobile-friendly? Let us know in the comments below. Or connect with me on Twitter or Facebook.

Is Your Business Too Boring for PR and Social Media?

Elena — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:07:44 +0000

Viral videos, link baits, Google ranking…. These signs of online brand popularity sure can be intimidating. Especially if you’re in a type of business that isn’t exactly mainstream sexy or interesting.

What if you’re in an industry that’s boring? Is there no hope for you to succeed at getting exposure for your business, whether in traditional or social media?

Of course not.

While some products and services are more exciting and have more mass appeal than others, every business can reach out to its target market in a meaningful and compelling way.

Below are some ideas to help you see the noteworthy and newsworthy parts of your business.

8 Ways to Create Remarkable Content for Boring Businesses

1. Images

I’ve told you about my old sock business, right? Well, how can socks be sexy or interesting? As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, we made it so by using photographs. We took photos of our product — socks — in various situations: raunchy, adventurous, sophisticated. Definitely not qualities you would associate with plain black socks!

Aside from photos, another way to spice up your content marketing is by using moving images: video. Especially if your competitors are still using plain text in their blogs, using video, YouTube in particular, will set you apart and give you a boost with the search engines.

Infographics are another way of telling your story visually, and one that’s shareable. Make your infographics relevant and useful, and they will get shared and even embedded in other websites.

2. Appeal to Deepest Desires

There is this one test you can do to gauge whether your business has any hopes of being interesting: Do people buy your product? If they do, then I dare say, it IS sexy!

Products or services that sell are sexy, because they address the deepest desires of their target market.

What do people want the most? People want more money, acceptance especially by the opposite sex, admiration of others, and self-fulfillment, among other things. If you can demonstrate, through your content marketing and PR efforts, how your product helps your customers achieve one or any of these, then your business is sexy.

Another thing. Most people are lazy. So if your product can help them avoid doing something they’re too lazy to do, it will be exciting. Take for example the Kitty Litter Gripper Mat. Nothing exciting about a sticky mat for catching kitty litter, right? But who wants to clean a mess up? So the owner of this company told me that after employing one of the publicity strategies she learned from my PR course, she got on NBC and the next month was in a national monthly magazine!

Also think of related content or topics that your target audience would be interested in, aside from subjects directly about your product. Go back to your target market personas and list topics that would attract them. The more specific and defined your personas, the more interesting topics you’ll come up with.

In other words, to the right audience, your business is not boring!

3. Strong Personality

Do you or anybody in your company have a strong personality? You know, someone who always commands attention when they walk into a room? Someone who’s the center of attention when they’re in a group? Someone who isn’t afraid of expressing their opinions, even when these run contrary to what’s popular?

If so, you have a potential “brand ambassador” in your midst. This would be the perfect person to blog, vlog (video blog), or podcast for your company. Their personality will shine through and attract traffic, generate interest in your product, and help your business get more exposure, both online and offline.

4. Human Interest

People are curious about other people. That’s why human interest stories are always appealing. Look for stories about individuals involved in your business. It might be your own story of how you came to build your business. It might be the story of the engineer who designed your product. Certainly, it’s the story of customers whose lives changed as a result of using your product. Or even your virtual assistant who’s going to run in a breast cancer charity marathon.

Look at your life experience and those of people you work with. What challenges have they overcome? What makes their story different, inspiring, or noteworthy? Even if it’s not directly related to your product, showing the human side of your business makes you more attractive to prospects.

Don’t forget the stories of people who use your product. Go beyond testimonials and white papers. Transform your customers’ success stories into videos, photo essays, podcasts, features — whatever medium you use, just go and tell their stories.

5. Behind the Scenes

You may think there’s nothing special about your product, because you live and breathe it every day. In other words, it has become ordinary to you. But to others, the fact that your raw material is harvested by hand in family-owned farms, untouched by pesticides, is fascinating. If you’re a writer, your own writing process, including the exact way you need to arrange your desk, could be fodder for content.

6. Community

Use social media to build a community for your customers, or those who would make a perfect customer for your company. Again, go back to your target market personas. Start by creating a community for the persona that’s your strongest market, or one you’d like to build up. Set up a space where they can ask questions about your product, share tips, or simply show off all the wonderful things they’re doing with your product.

Once your community takes off (or when you get involved in a community that’s already well-established), it becomes an inexhaustible source of content. Observe their biggest pain points, watch out for success stories, take note of common mistakes… you’ll have enough content ideas for years to come.

7. Humor

This is probably the trickiest way to make a boring subject sizzle. But if you come up with a funny idea you think may click with your target audience, why not give it a try?

Also, keep your eye open for staff who may have a light-hearted, funny way of expressing themselves. Their humorous attitude may make for audience-pulling blog posts, Twitter tweets, and Facebook updates.

Another way to inject humor into your content is by relating your topic to pop culture. If you sell recreational vehicles, for example, use the famous sewer scene from Robin Williams’ movie, “RV,” as a take-off point for a blog post or video.

Here’s a video that combines images, humor, and behind-the-scenes look at an oh-so-exciting product, shavers:

8. Shock and Awe

Shocking, awe-inspiring topics are always newsworthy. Sometimes you have to create your own shocking “news.” For example, did you ever think of blenders as shocking or newsworthy? But when Blendtec created their “Will It Blend” video series, where they blended everything from golf balls to iPhones, they elicited gasps of awe. You don’t have to be out-of-this-world extreme to use this technique. Just look for the unexpected, unusual, and unique in your product, or in the way customers use it.

Still think your product is too boring for PR and content marketing? I hope not!

Instead, I hope reading this post inspired you to explore angles, media, and strategies that will help you gain more exposure for your business.

What ideas have you come up with? Let us know in the comments below. You can also reach me on Twitter or Facebook. Can’t wait to hear what you’ve come up with!

10 Quick and Actionable Tips I Learned from Social Media Marketing World

Elena — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:57:19 +0000

You may be wondering why I didn’t call this post “takeaways” from Social Media Marketing World. That’s because I didn’t get to see all the sessions I wanted to see (so I grabbed the recordings) and I’m writing this from the plane with a glass of wine so, frankly, I haven’t had the chance to think strategically about the big picture takeaways!

I’m so excited about the quick tips and tools I picked up from some of the best social media marketers in the world that I wanted to share them with you as soon as possible.

Here you go:

1. Use More of the RIGHT Photos

Being in PR, I’m always bothered that many people (and businesses) infringe on the owner’s copyright for photos. According to Ed McDonald of the American Society of Media Photographers, this could result in a $150,000 fine! For bloggers and social media marketers that don’t want to have to pay that kind of fine, I learned from Rich Brooks about Compfight, which can help find the creative commons photos you can use from Flickr for example. Problem solved.

2. Find a Content Curation Tool You Like

A huge challenge for those implementing social media strategies or a social media campaign is where to find compelling content. Author and Facebook expert Mari Smith shared three great time-saving tools for your daily social media marketing plan: Flipboard (mobile app), Spundge.com and Trap.it (Click here to watch my interview with Mari Smith)

3. Manage Influencer Relationships

If you’re marketing a small business, you’re always short on time and budget. One of the best ways to succeed in social media networking is to keep track of key influencers in your industry. Ian Cleary, who regularly reviews social media technologies and tools recommends, Nimble. Not unlike a CRM, it’s a social relationship manager that keeps track of conversations your influencers are having with others, as well as your conversations with them. Simply having influencers on a Twitter list won’t give you this information in a clear and consistent manner due to the overwhelming amount of messages out there. Nimble allows you to stay focused.

4. Go Mobile

That’s also the title of Jamie Turner’s book and his post “Mobile Marketing: Everything you Wanted to Know but Were Afraid to Ask” reminded me to look into mobile websites for my businesses. Since I’m on WordPress, Jamie recommended a plug in like WPTouch.

5. Get your Google Authorship

Ever wonder why when you search for something on Google, some results bring back photos of people next to their posts? And isn’t that what your eye is drawn to? Google+ Marketing for Dummies author, Jesse Stay, says it’s about getting your Google Authorship. You’ll have to join Google+, which could be discouraging, because as Guy Kawasaki says in his book, “I needed another social network like I need my dog to throw up.” I felt the same way but after reading Guy’s book and hearing Jesse speak – it’s now on my to-do list.

6. Don’t Forget an Opt-in to Facebook Pages

I took down an opt-in offer from my Facebook page a few months back, intending to work on something, haven’t gotten around to it so thanks to Facebook expert Andrea Vahl, I’m back on track! If you’re looking to add a way for people to subscribe to your newsletter or to add new tabs (for example, “Speaking”) to your Facebook page, check out WooBox, Shortstack or Heyo. I personally use WooBox because they give you the ability to easily create these custom tabs for free. You only pay for when you start using premium apps.

7. Pay Attention to Who Comes Into Your Life

One of the fun things about an in-person event is just that: finally meeting online friends in real life and sharing experiences. One experience I will never forget from Social Media Marketing World was running to catch the networking boat cruise with LinkedIn expert and former pro athlete Lewis Howes, when it turned out the restaurant we were at was further away than we thought. I’m sure you can guess who got to the boat first!

And in an event with 1100 people, I also kept running into the same few people over and over again that it was almost weird. I noticed and I’ll be keeping in touch with them – maybe they will help me, maybe I’m meant to help them.

8. You Tube and Podcasting Are Where it’s At

: Me and Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income

Mike Stelzner’s opening keynote showed us that this is the year of video and audio. We now listen to podcasts instead of talk radio, YouTube has a massive user base of 1 billion, and survey results of 3000+ marketers showed this is where more of their budget will be spent in 2013. Two speakers at the event I’ll be following closely to learn from are You Tube expert James Wedmore and Smart Passive Income podcaster Pat Flynn, whose podcasts just hit 3,000,000 downloads!

9. Let go of Perfection

Speaking of YouTube, one of the best and most entertaining presentations I attended was the one from science teacher Steve Spangler who became a sensation on YouTube. What caught my attention though, is when he shared a slickly edited video of his friend – you know, the type where the person is standing in front of a white background and several jump cuts make his script sound just perfect. That got 10,000+ views.

: With Steve Spangler

However, Steve encouraged his friend to create a “one take” iPhone video from a coffee shop talking about the perils of identity theft. At one point you only see part of his head, as he sneaks up to a computer left behind, he takes us on a walk – everything you think you shouldn’t do. This video got more than 200,000+ views.

That’s encouraging for those of us just starting out, and for those who think they can’t get started unless they have a professional studio and videographer. There’s definitely a time when those will be useful, but if you’re thinking of doing a video – that example just gave us permission to go for it!

10. GO to Your Industry’s Best Event

As a small business owner I thought long and hard about going to this event. Besides the fees and travel cost which amounted to several thousand dollars, there is the time and effort. It took almost a day for me to get there, I had to make sure my client work was covered by my team and I have young children, so there were logistics I had to take care of.

And it was well worth the cost, time and effort.

I came away with so many ideas and the experience helped solidify where I want to take my business this year and how I’m going to do it. I will easily make 10x the return on investment for this conference. I am more confident about what I can offer my clients and I see new sources of revenue I haven’t seen before.

So do what you have to do, to get to your industry’s best event. Which live event will you be attending soon? Who knows, I might be sitting in the chair next to you!

How to Embrace Financial Planning for Your Lifestyle-Based Business

Elena — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:50:22 +0000

One of the defining moments that shaped my career was taking my first accounting class in university. I hated it. I knew it was something I was going to avoid at all costs, for as long as I could. I immediately switched out of my business major, and studied for a communications degree instead.

For a long time in my small business, I just avoided looking at the numbers. I simply put receipts and expenses in a box, printed out all my invoices and handed them over to my accountant once a year. No worries!

The problem with that system is that I never really knew where things stood. Sure, I knew how much monthly revenue was coming in and the big expenses like paying contractors who worked for me.

But I never really knew the big picture of where the business was going and more importantly, how it could affect my lifestyle. Knowing where my business stood financially would have made it easier to decide when to launch a new product or service, when to take a new client on and when I could ease up and say no to opportunities that came my way. I had no financial roadmap to follow and more importantly, I wanted my business goals to truly support my lifestyle.

Many years later, I still hand a paper trail every year to my accountant. I’m just not wired to input every expense into online tools like Freshbooks, no matter how simple they make it. Instead, I have a customized Excel spreadsheet that works for what I would like to know. If you hate numbers like me, consider this type of financial planning to support your personal values and what you truly want in life.

You Still Have to Face the Truth

Really look at all your expenses. Not just your business expenses, but also all the expenses in your life that drawing a salary or dividends from your business will have to support. That may include a mortgage, house or car maintenance, insurance, car or debt payments, medical, personal or your children’s education, entertainment, activities, travel, haircuts, housekeeping, tithing – there will easily be 20 or more categories.

I know small business owners generating hundreds of thousands of dollars a year that don’t do this because they feel success doesn’t equate to having to “live on a budget.” This is your current situation and while it may be a shock to see the reality of how much you spend, this is a good thing – knowing where you are starting and where you want to go will be more empowering in the long run.

Gain Clarity on your Minimum, Desired and Awe-Inspiring Financial Goals

We’re conditioned as entrepreneurs to dream big, taking things to the next level and wanting a villa in Mexico or a private jet as a trophy for “making it” in our business. The reality, for more and more of us, is that we want our business to support our personal values.

Do you know what you really want?

How much time are you willing to work in your business to get what you want?

What tradeoffs are you willing to make to get what you want?

To get a glimpse of your answers, take each of your expense categories identified in point #1 and break it down further to three segments in your spreadsheet – let’s call it your minimum, desired and awe-inspiring goals. I first heard about that concept from business coach Alexis Neely and it really works!

Here’s an example for housing:

Minimum

Your minimum requirement is the smallest amount you need to be happy with. A few years ago, my family and I lived in Asia as my husband started a business there. We rented a two-bedroom apartment in the middle of the city and lived there for three years with our two young children. It was surprising how happy we were in such a small space and we learned to do without many things that took up a lot of space.

Desired

Your desired requirement is the preferred level that you want and it will be different for everyone. Maybe it’s owning a four bedroom home with a water view, renting a two bedroom apartment in the middle of Manhattan, owning a home with a large backyard in the suburbs, or a farm with a stable for horses and a vegetable garden. Perhaps you are already living in your desired situation. What’s important is that you really want it, and you do not judge yourself for it.

Awe-Inspiring

Your awe-inspiring requirement is a no-holds barred, dream-as-big-as-you-want goal. For me this means owning a four bedroom home with a water view and a small community. As well, I would like to have a two bedroom apartment in the heart of the city and a two bedroom beach home in Asia to escape the long and dreary winters.

Knowing these three categories, you can then estimate what the costs will be according to down payments, mortgage rates, etc. It’s a little research upfront but this is what anchors your goals into reality.

Here’s what the Housing category could look like when you calculate it:

Minimum	Desired	Awe-Inspired
rent two bedroom	own 4 bedroom home	4 bedroom home plus 2 bedroom apartment plus 2 bedroom beach home
$2000 per month rent	$5000 per month mortgage	($5000) + ($2000) + ($2000) = $9000 rent and mortgages

Plug in Your Current and Projected Revenues

It’s fairly simple for me to assess current and even projected revenues based on monthly retainers and it’s nice to know that’s guaranteed income I can count on. However, I also create and sell products like e-books, take occasional consulting projects or paid speaking and workshop opportunities so I have separate categories for those.

Really break down what your current sources of revenues are, and brainstorm what other potential sources of revenue can come in either through new clients, affiliate or other partnerships, new products or new opportunities that you yourself can generate.

Get to Know Your Income Statement

Your income statement simply takes all your revenue minus expenses and gives you what your profit will be before taxes. This is where you see the big picture for your business on a monthly or yearly basis and whether it’s supporting your minimum, desired or awe-inspiring lifestyle requirement.

Seeing the big picture allows you to do several things:

Know how much you will already make with guaranteed contracts
See when “slower” months are coming so you can ramp up business development and not get caught off guard
Create something new that you can sell in order to boost revenue to get something you really want
Think of revenue sources or partnerships you can put in place that will generate new income streams
Assess the time you spend working and whether you can take on more clients, need to hire employees or contractors, or simply say no to new business
Take time off or have peace of mind knowing that you are already meeting your financial goals
Rinse and Repeat

It can be fairly painful to do this exercise if you don’t like numbers or spreadsheets like me, especially since you’ll be revisiting this often. This is not a one-off exercise and is definitely an example of “no pain, no gain.”

Once your personal spreadsheet is set up though, you’ll find that it becomes your compass to success on many levels. I’m often surprised when our company revenue goals are surpassed, but I also know that planning and visioning are what gets us there.

If you’re not a whiz on Excel, outsource it to someone on Fiverr, Elance or Odesk that could create a customized spreadsheet for you. It just might be the best expense you’ll have all year.

What other tips or tools do you have for strategic financial planning in your small business? Share it with me on Facebook or Twitter.

Mari Smith Answers Your Questions at Social Media Immersion Day

Elena — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 21:49:24 +0000

I caught up with Mari Smith, Facebook Marketing Expert, at her Social Media Immersion Day in San Diego, and got the chance to ask her a couple of questions sent by PR in Your Pajamas readers.

The room was busy at the time, and it was very noisy, so do read the summary of her answers below this video:

Elena: What types of businesses is Facebook marketing best for?

Mari: Good question. For many years, I’ve said there’s B2B, B2C, and what I like to call P2P or People to People. With over 1 billion on Facebook, that’s a lot of people. The type of business that benefits from Facebook marketing is one that lends itself well to engagement. And that ought to be most all businesses.

For example, take a company like Ford Motor Companies, and you have someone like Scott Monty, who’s a “brandividual” — an individual who represents the brand. Even a corporate with B2B audience could do something like that.

Right down to any mom-and-pop store, right on up to Fortune 100 companies. Facebook is where the masses are, get onto Facebook and get active.

Elena: What’s your favorite time-saving tool we can all learn from?

Mari: Number one would be a curation tool. There’s many of them out there. Flipboard is a nice mobile tool. I like one called Spundge.com or Trap.it. Those are great for surfacing good quality content.

But really the solution to the time problem is having the right team in place, delegating and having the right predictable and reliable systems. so you don’t get into that overwhelm. You really need a strong support team who’s handling the content and engagement for you.

Depending on the size of the company. I have a team who handles content. I’ve trained them on how I think, because it’s my name, my reputation, my brand, so I’m really particular about what I send out through my channels. The secret there is training, but curation absolutely can be delegated.

Watch the blog for more interviews and actionable lessons I’ve picked up from SMMW 2013!
Let me know what you think so far in the comments below. You can also reach me on Twitter or Facebook.

5 Top Tips to Write Effectively for PR

Elena — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:06:00 +0000

Is there a writing style for PR?

Traditionally, yes.

PR writing style tends to be more journalistic than editorial. It’s more informative than salesy.

However, since PR is now going into the realm of content marketing, writing for PR is beginning to encompass different types of writing. This includes blogging, web copywriting, and even writing for video.

But I believe the foundations for good PR writing remain. No matter what medium you’re using, when you’re writing for PR, you strive to be direct to the point, factual, interesting, clear and credible.

Things to Remember for Good PR Writing

1. The inverted triangle still applies

You may be familiar with the journalistic style of writing in an inverted triangle. That is, the most important elements of your article are in the beginning, while the smaller details are left for last.

This still applies, because journalists and their audiences are still as busy as ever. In fact, media consumers have more information at their fingertips and no longer have time to read an entire piece. So it’s still necessary to put your main point and the basics – who, what, where, when, why and how – up top.

2. Make your piece scannable

Short paragraphs are better than long ones. Break up your article into sections and add sub-headings to distinguish one sub-topic from another. Use numbered lists or bullet points when appropriate. This makes it easy for the reader to get your main points just by scanning your article.

3. Good writing is still good writing

The basic principles of good writing apply to PR writing. These include, for example, using the active voice instead of the passive. Compare the following:

Passive: The new community centre was launched by the mayor.
Active: The mayor launched the new community centre.

The active voice has more power and punch.

Another principle of good writing is specificity. It’s better to be specific than vague, and to be concrete rather than abstract. Again, compare:

Vague: Acme Company increased its revenues last year.
Specific: Acme Company’s revenues increased by 45% in 2012 compared to the previous year.

Abstract:Testers said their complexion improved.
Concrete:After 3 weeks of using Berry Eye Cream, testers reported:

56% had reduced puffiness
87% had fewer lines
49% had lighter undereye circles

4. Write for your audience

Your writing will improve if you remember to write for your audience. Who will read, hear or watch the piece you’re writing? Imagine one person from your audience, and write for him or her. Your audience will determine your choice of words, tone, and angle.

Using this guideline, your style will be different if you’re writing for potential corporate funders, vs university-age consumers, vs eco-conscious parents of children below 12.

5. Use a strong headline

Headlines sell newspapers. Even in today’s social media age, headlines can still make or break a piece. Learn to write powerful, compelling headlines that make people want to read or listen to what you have to say. Start looking at your favorite newspaper or magazine and see how they write their headlines and see if you can apply it to your content.

For more details on PR writing style, consult the Associated Press Stylebook.

How’s your PR writing style? What are your writing challenges?

Share them in the comments below. You can also connect with me on Twitter or Facebook. I look forward to it!

Content Marketing: Do You Have What It Takes?

Elena — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 13:01:44 +0000

Most people treat content marketing as just another tactic to promote your business. However, some believe content marketing is much more than that.

That’s the point of view of Marcus Sheridan, The Sales Lion and Owner of River Pools & Spas, in his Content Marketing World presentation entitled “Distilling the Magic and the Mystery that is Content Marketing Success.”

Sheridan used content marketing to save his swimming pool business, which was on the brink of bankruptcy. Sheridan’s content marketing was so successful, he is now also a consultant, advising other businesses how to do content marketing effectively.

Sheridan’s main point can be summed up like this:

“Content marketing is not a tool, it is a culture.”

What this means for us entrepreneurs is that we don’t switch content marketing on or off like an electronic billboard. Rather, to become effective content marketers, we need to realize that a cultural change must happen within our businesses.

Why?

The First Requirement of Content Marketing

Because content marketing requires, first of all, listening. Listening, Sheridan says, is the greatest content marketing tool in the world. Listening alone will enable you to produce great content that will bring you results.

Entrepreneurs who listen to their prospects and customers will never, ever run out of content ideas, according to Sheridan. In fact, one sign you’re not listening enough is if you ever catch yourself saying, “I don’t know what to blog about.” And the best way to get backlinks? “Write good stuff that answers what people care about,” Sheridan says.

The Unexpected Blogger

Another, probably bigger, cultural shift that needs to happen in your business if you want to do content marketing, is getting people to write. Whatever type of company you are, the best bloggers, twitterers, pinners, and status updaters are already right there in your organization.

Sheridan says, “In-sourcing will be the greatest factor of content marketing success going forward.”

We’ve seen tech companies whose engineers blog, so don’t think your business is the exception. Certainly, your product experts are the most logical bloggers for your company. But don’t forget your other employees. For example, your receptionist probably knows best what your current customers like and complain about. The lady at the support desk knows at the top of her mind what are the most frequently-asked questions your product or service.

Solopreneurs had better embrace their new role as blogger or content publisher. If you’re not fond of writing, fortunately, you have many other options nowadays. You could make videos or podcasts instead. You could make photography your main content, if that’s what you enjoy doing and it’s suitable to your product or service.

Having read this post, what do you think: Do you have what it takes to do content marketing? Post a comment below, or let me know on Twitter or Facebook.

Image by Stockmonkeys.com