MarketingMel

Recently I was invited to the founding meeting of a women’s leadership organization. It was a fascinating foursome that got together at that first gathering in a local tea room. One woman is a leader in local Junior League, another is a former Chicago and Wall Street trader and another is an elementary school vice principal who speaks fluent French. I, the communications entrepreneur, rounded out the group. Together we decided on a name, “The Women’s Leadership Salon.” The group’s purpose is to gather monthly to discuss books about leadership. After dinner we adjourned to  the tea room’s front porch. If you can imagine a Tennessee summer breeze kissing your face coupled with a lively conversation about pet dogs, you can picture our meeting there  that first evening.

We decided our first reading assignment would be John C. Maxwell’s Developing the Leader Within You.  I recommend the book to anyone interested in leadership. There was one chapter that stood out to me: Vision. In it Maxwell tells of the difference between a winner’s mentality and a loser’s mentality. Quoting Bobb Biehl Maxwell writes, “Winners focus on winning big-not just how to win, but how to win big. Losers, however don’t focus on losing they just focus on getting by.”  What has your focus of attention? Maxwell poses one other question as a fill-in-the-blank from Moishe Rosen. If you had anything you wanted with unlimited resources what would you do? The sentence reads:

If I had __________________________________

I would ____________________________________

What’s your dream?  Are you thinking big or just getting by? I’d love to hear from you about your vision, especially if you are an entrepreneur. Let’s support one another in our efforts- and keep on dreaming!

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I recently introduced a real-world colleague as someone “I met on twitter.” When I mentioned that to another person, who spends very little time on social media, she said, “With the Weiner scandal you better watch what you say.” Well, with all due respect ma’am, not exactly. You see, had Weiner understood the reality of twitter and its broadcast and sharing capabilities, perhaps the New York congressman would not be in the hot water he finds himself in today. The point is, my public relations and marketing work world is now located, for the most part, online. As CK Kerley said when I interviewed her in Knoxville in April, we now live in two worlds at all times. I have many colleagues whom I’ve met only online. Yet we share fabulous information regularly and have, in many cases, become friends. This TNW article highlighting the future of social media brings out that point. It links to the fantastic Amsterdam keynote by social media evangelist Robert Scoble that is well worth watching. It covers our dual world life, including increasing Klout scores and buying stock in others. How does your life now straddle two worlds?

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Editor’s note: This article was first published as a guest blog post on my friend Cathy Rodger’s blog over at 7 Waves Marketing.

Let’s face it. We’re going to be moving around in our careers. The days of staying in one job for 35 years and retiring with a gold watch are over. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average person born in the later years of the baby boom held 10.8 jobs from age 18 to 42. Given our mobile society, we need to create and cultivate our personal brand as we switch jobs or careers. Large corporations aren’t the only ones who know the value of sticking with a brand. If you don’t believe me, have you tried Googling your name or your “brand name” lately? That’s where you’ll see the results of your personal brand building efforts.

Since Google changed its algorithms in February MarketingMel has fared even better in search than it did when I started my public relations firm for business pro’s just over two years ago. What’s helped MarketingMel get the Google juice and thus build my personal brand? Here are seven tips I’ve learned that I hope will be of help to you:

1- Have a good web site: As old-fashioned as it may sound in today’s social media crazed world, your web site is still your virtual lobby. It impacts your professionalism and your search. Be sure you’ve engaged proper search engine optimization techniques. I learned this first hand. I launched my company with only a free WordPress blog. That was certainly better than nothing but I saw a major change once I employed a top notch web developer and we co-created a professional web site.

2- Use twitter: Plain and simple – twitter gives you Google juice.  By tweeting about topics of interest you will build a base of loyal followers and build your credibility and professionalism.

3- Win awards: Do quality work and apply for awards in your field. It brings you and your clients recognition.

4- Publicize those awards! In addition to issuing a local news release for some recent P.R.S.A. awards that I won for client work I also put the release out on Marketwire. Using an accredited wire service gives your brand staying power and keeps it up in search. I’ve found the Marketwire people extremely helpful to work with and paying for their service is better than the free press release sites.

5- Create and post new content including videos: It will put you in the great minority. Forrester says that only about 25 percent of the people using the social web are actually creating content, like this blog post. Be sure to take this great opportunity to be creative.

6- Get featured in the media: You’re bound to have an area of expertise others are interested in. When I first started my own business I was interviewed by the local TV station about my use of twitter. That springboarded into a three part series called Social Networking 101 that aired on the 6 pm news. Since then I’ve been on the radio several times and the subject of  written feature articles. You can do the same for your brand.

7- Use social media channels:  Remember to stay active with LinkedIn and Facebook. Be sure you create a Facebook business page for your business. That too will help you in search.

Finally,  just start somewhere. Create content and build your brand! You’ll already be ahead of 75% of the pack!

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