MarketingMel

MarketingMel is seen here with a couple of smart marketers: Ben Mezrich and Cathy Rodgers. Not everyone at this conference was so savvy.

My good friend Maria Peagler of SocialMediaOnlineClasses and I are currently  creating a webinar on personal branding.  We’ll be providing extensive follow-up materials to those who attend the webinar.  To get things launched for our September debut I share with you this real-life story of the power of branding on this one-minute video. It’s about the impact something as simple as your twitter name can have on other business professionals. I’ll post more details about the upcoming webinar here on this blog soon. Meanwhile, do you have some examples of your own of good (or bad) personal branding? Please share them in the comments here.

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This week I will wrap up the fourth and final part of my twitter 101 guest series with Maria Peagler of Social Media Online Classes. Maria just unveiled a terrific twitter infographic as part of an excellent article called 64 ways to improve your twitter marketing. It provides easy to understand information for those still baffled by twitter. In this, my fourth and final guest appearance on Maria’s twitter courses, we talk about ways to market your business on twitter. From free product offerings to regular participation in twitter industry chats with like-minded business professionals, you can grow your reach and business presence by using twitter in a professional manner.

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Willie Sutton, famed bank robber

My father was an entrepreneur. He started his professional fundraising firm from the ground up and made an honest living at it. As a young girl I remember hearing him tell the story of famed bank robber Willie Sutton. Legend has it that Willie, when asked, “Why do you rob banks?” famously uttered, “Because that’s where the money is.” I suppose Dad was telling the story in reference to his top campaign contributors. In researching this blog post I see where that line may have been embellished along the way but the quote remains stuck to Willie like a good pair of New York state-issued orange overalls.

So what does this have to do with social networking you ask?  Well, everything actually.

I often speak publicly to business professionals and their organizations about the value of building one’s personal and professional brand online. As I show the growing statistics of small businesses using social networking in an age when creative marketing is a must, I re-tell the story of Willie Sutton. If a notorious thief robbed banks because that’s where the money was located isn’t it logical that business professionals would want to be online where their current clients and future prospects are spending their time?  If your customers are on Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, or some other social network wouldn’t you want to be there too? What are your thoughts? How effective has social networking been in growing your business?

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Marketing Mel is featured in the new issue (see page 25) of Out ‘N About Magazine. The September 8 issue features the story of the innovative marketing, public relations and social media firm and highlights some recent successes. MarketingMel’s niche is working with business professionals to create and enhance their personal brand through a variety of communications channels.

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