“Guru Guidance”Benefits of having a Mentor

This past Friday I participated in a Webex hosted by SMPS to talk about my experience with having a mentor. As a young marketing professional, I think it’s vital to seek guidance and knowledge from those more experienced than you. My mentor Alison Carney  from Balfour Beatty is awesome! We’ve known each other for about 8 mo.s now and have developed a great relationship. I think the recipe to a successful mentor/mentee relationship goes a little something like this…

-1  pint of listening ears  and excitement

- 2 cups of kindness

- 1  cup of an open mind

- a dash of smiles and laughter

-And a whole lot of helping each other out 

I’ve really come away from my experience with more knowledge of the AEC industry and with a new perspective in marketing. I hope those of you who don’t have a mentor will consider seeking out to find one, I can’t tell you how invaluable your mentor will become to you. The relationship is long lasting and the knowledge you gain is priceless.

Branding with Absurdity

Have  you ever watched commercials on TV that had nothing to do with the product or service that they were pitching. Like the Geico commercials that featured cavemen, or the Microsoft commercial with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld? Shoes and Computers have no direct correlation and neither do cavemen and car insurance but those are the commercials that we tend to remember, the out of the box, weird but funny, dry sense of humor like ones. 

If you ask your self why, it’s because of the shock value the commercial provides. You see someone like Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates shopping for shoes at ‘Shoe Circus’ you’re going to pay attention, you’re going to wonder what they’re doing and why in the world is Bill Gates shopping for shoes at ‘Shoe Circus’ and why is Jerrry Seinfeld helping Bill Gates try on these shoes???

It’s the shock value that keeps you glued to your screen, there are no facts on Microsoft or a pitch for their product in the entire video (excluding the logo shown at the end of the video), just absurdity and humor, which we can all admit is much more fun to watch than a sales pitch.

So what do you walk away with? Awareness. Brand awareness to be exact. In this revolution of social media, we must remember that it’s not always about getting the sale or creating a lead into a client. About 95% of the time it’s  about brand awareness and molding your brand image.

Alot of people are afraid to be bold, daring or even absurd. They’re afraid that it won’t help them meet their sales goals, but what most people forget is that if you’ve been operating a business for at least over 5 years you no longer need to plug in your sales pitch every where you get the opportunity too. If you’re an industry leader or have piece of the market, why shake in your boots, no one is doubting your abilities, so no need to convince your potential clients, rather you should be educating them on your corporate culture, your brand, and what you’re firm is about (not necessarily what your firm does/provides everyone can figure that out what they can’t figure out is the culture and personality of your firm- all in which lies the brand). 

So next time you blog, tweet, facebook, or link in, forget the Sales Pitch and start a convo.

If you’d like to see a great example of absurdity check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smpltxe-8jQ&feature=fvw  enjoy!

Are you keeping up with the SoMes?

We all know how time consuming and overwhelming it can be to keep up with Social Media, but the internet is indispensable, it’s not going any where and it’s only taking more and more of our time. So how do you keep up then?

As of late my boss and I have been holding work session for SoMe, we browse the net, we make discoveries, discuss, tweet, blog and facebook our findings or knowledge.  What we’ve found is there is no click of a button way to stay relevant, SoMe does require an around the clock kind of interaction. But you don’t have to do it alone, there are tools that can help you keep it all together.

For example one of challenges of having multiple SoMe accounts and apps is remembering all your passwords and login info, for that you can use apps such as “The Vault” where you store all your PWs.  Or LockBox another PW manager app.

Secondly if you have a twitter/facebook account and you start off the accounts as personal accounts but somehow your professional colleagues start adding you on Twitter and Facebook it is best to immediately open a new account to cater to your Professional Network, you should never mix the two worlds (it’s kind of like mixing water and oil…it just doesn’t work). And while you may think that having two accounts for each SoMe tool is way too much work it might save you from any embarrassment/grief in the long run.  A great tool you can use to access multiple twitter accounts for example would be Splitweet or TheMattinator, even FriendFeed to keep all your SoMe tools all in one. There are other tools that will help you manage and control your twitter and facebook accounts as well. It’s just a matter of getting into the routine of using your SoMe tools, even when it seems like there’s a new tool everyday, you choose the ones that work for you and stick to them. 

One of my favorite sites to frequent is mashable.com it is truly the SoMe world on one webpage. If you’re ever in need of a SoMe expert and no one is around, you’ll find the guidance/knowledge you need on mashable.com 

Also while you try to manage your own SoMe campaign have fun with it, and don’t be afraid to make friends and learn from others. I do it all the time, especially on twitter, I get alot from reading other people’s tweets and it leads me to this unstructured wave  of discoveries which is always fun! 

Lastly I hope you keep me updated on your SoMe campaign efforts would like to learn from you as well.

Latest SoMe tool?

Too often I think us Marketers look at things from the outside in rather than from the inside out. I’ve read numerous white papers, aricles, and blogs advocating best practices and “how-to’s” on utilizing Social Media for your firm/business. All of which are great resources but I wonder instead of constanlty testing the best practices and the most recent SoMe tools on others, what if we tested our selves first and then analyzed the results? I am sitting here thinking what valuable info I could share with you and I thought, everything that’s out there on Social Media is pretty much made out of the same things. I wouldn’t be unvailing anything new or secretive, I would only be expanding.

But before I go on raving about the latest SoMe tool, I think it’s safe to say that the best measurement for  any SoMe tool or any website, is your self. if what your firm is doing online isn’t getting any attention, you have to ask your self why? You have to look at it from a fresh point of you, is your site attractive to you? If your firm’s site was your personal website, would you upgrade it? Or leave it as is? Do you enjoy reading your own blog? Do you ask questions that are trully engaging or are you simply looking for responses that only generate traffic but not valuable information?  

Last question to ask yourself is if you really dig your own SoMe campaign, because if you don’t love your own SoMe campaign why should we?

As I am typing this I am thinking about my own SoMe campaign and I’ll admit I haven’t been loving my own blog (aside from this one ofcourse) lately, mostly because I haven’t been sharing generously and I’ve been inconsistent with my posts.

Next time you go to WordPress or TypePad see how long it takes you to start typing if its more than 5 min, maybe you should step away and comeback to it later, when you’re ready to let it flow.

Oh, and about the greatest SoMe tool thats out there… well here’s what I think it is, and ONLY you would have access to it, its called your PERSONALITY, don’t be afraid to let it reflect digitally!

The Power of Google

As of late, I haven’t been on Twitter, WordPress, or LinkedIn, making me a terrible source for the AEC industry. I got to thinking, how are we able to balance it all? At first I was excited and eager to share with you my experiences and knowledge on what’s happening from my point of view. With just two blogs under my belt, I got swamped with deadlines and proposals leaving me little time to stay relative to the AEC Social Network.

So time to share with you what I’ve been up to and my latest discovery. A few weeks ago we implemented Google Analytics onto our firm’s site and have found it to be quite interesting.
It’s given us an idea of our audience, our ROI on SoMe efforts, and has enlightened us on the steps we need to take, to stay ahead.

For those of you looking to get the most out of your firm’s website (what I like to call the virtual business card), check out Google Analytics, it may change the way you view your firm’s site.

Other google items which maybe worth your while are Adwords, Adsense, and Google Enterprise. Some of the more recent ways to help your firm’s site be more visible.

BDI-Case for Social Media

BDI- the business development institute had one of the most inspiring and  educational conferences I have ever attended. This past tuesday (May 12th) I went to nyc to LEARN and soak up anything I could to enlighten me. 

 

The conference was comprised of companies such as MTV, Tyson Chicken, Coca-Cola, 

Social Media Today, Fuji Film and more. All these case studies were presented by people who knew first hand the challenges of creating a social network from scratch. All these companies provied various products and services, but their common goal was to create a community for their passionate consumers, who want to be heard!

 

How did they do it? One consumer at a time. They paid attention, they monitored, they listened and most importantly they gave their community solid content. The blogs, the updates, status, links, images, podcasts, webinars, surveys all were valuable to the end user and brought value to the time that the consumer was spending on their page. 

 

With out knowing it, they all created a TRIBE! They did it quite effortlessly, for example the VP of Conusmer Insights at MTV spoke to us about the page she avidly monitors and told us how much value, these kids that spend their time interaction online, add to their business. An example she gave was when one of the users commented about an unknown artist, triggering MTV to pay attention to the non-mainstream artists that theses viewers wanted to see more of. 

 

The rep from Coca Cola came to talk about his consumers and people who are passionate about the product. I thought it was interesting that he said the site is pretty much run by the members, who feel the need to express their loyalty and brand appreciation not only to Coca Cola but to other like minded consumers as well.

 

I think when starting a blog or a group or any social media outlet everyone’s always worried that people won’t come or won’t join their network, but what most people fail to understand is that people want to feel important, they want room to speak up and to be heard, they are yearning for an opportunity to issue their concern, I think the last thing we need to worry about as marketing professionals is if they will come…

 

The entire time I was at this conference I kept thinking “I am NOT alone” more than half of these people are just at awe with this social media craze, they’re just as lost at some point, and they’re all very excited at what potential Social Media has for them. 

 

If I were to give you one piece of advice about Social Media and how it could be used for any organization, is that Social media is HERE to STAY, you can either get on the band wagon or get left  behind, it is the new way people are connecting and doing business, there is no escaping it, so put your worries to the side and JOIN a network, get involved, speak up, be heard, lend your 2 cents, and see what a world of difference it makes, when people connect at a click of a button…its actually quite brilliant! 

Hello MktgCords!

Hello Marketing Professionals!

This is my very first post on any blog site and I’ve come here to WordPress to start blogging in an effort to share knowledge and learn from those in my profession. I hope we can exchange ideas,experiences, and thoughts and gain new interests from one another.

So here’s what I want to share- I am a marketing coordinator at an Engineering firm and as most firms are strapped for time and resources, my firm has been working at an accelerated rate to get new business in, which meant that everyone would become an Ambassador for the firm or a Business Developer if you will. 

Being that I’ve never had the experience in Business Development (BD) I started to join any group on Linked and Facebook that could be  a resource. I have now joined over 5 groups that I’m hoping will give me the knowledge needed to get involved in BD. 

I’ve also started looking for virtual worlds that apply to my industry (the AEC industry) which I haven’t had much luck with. But what I did start finding empowering is reading Seth Godin’s daily blog (www.sethgodin.com). For those of you who don’t know Seth, he’s a marketing guru, and a genius in his own right. He doesn’t directly talk about business development and how to network but he breaks down the essentials on people and relationships, how to build them and how to grow them. 

Seth talks about story telling and how all humans, all of mankind always has been driven to tell their story, and this undying need to talk about one’s self has been the focus and the main source of  success in any industry, especially for marketing professionals. 

Another source I’ve been testing is a  magazine, published by SMPS called the Marketer, the Marketer has great articles on leadership, business development and networking. As I continue to explore all sources that are available to people like you and I, I’ll be sure to share what sources that give the most value to Marketing Coordinators, and  I hope you’ll do the same!