BrightBlue Marketing Blog

Conference Marketing Tips and Tricks

2012-01-10T14:50:00.004-06:00

This blog is brought to you by BrightBlue Marketing Team Member: Andrea Lamarsaude

You’ve got a conference coming up and you want to have the best attendance ever – but how do you do that?!? These tips and tricks will help you create a strong marketing & PR campaign that will make that happen!

Integrate very creative and powerful messaging into every single communication prior to conference, at conference, and in any follow up communications. This messaging must sell the value of the conference to attendees and exhibitors and make it fun and exciting for them to be a part of the event.

Create excitement, suspense, and get buzz going!

Sample:

You don’t want to miss the 2012 “insert name of your conference”! It is THE “what your conference is about” conference of the year! “Name of your conference” is where you need to be!

Use an anchor to build buzz! Ask yourself is there something big happening in your industry that will be released this year that your team can promote to build suspense and buzz around the conference as well as incorporate in your messaging.

Use a multiple touch communication philosophy and always be top of mind utilizing all your communication channels (email, web, social media, blogs, newsletters, PR, etc.). Continually stay in front of potential attendees and exhibitors using messaging that presents the value and ROI of being a part of the conference.

Get your audience excited about attending!

Email teasers - In every save the date email have a compelling summary of some feature of the event (attendee testimonials from previous conferences, contest, exhibitor spotlight success story, great presentations, etc.) with a big “Register Now” sign up button. Suggest that they mark their calendars or sign up now (list dates of conference) in your regular email correspondence you send out in your signatures or in a button or link.

Keep it simple and keep it brief and with a definite call to action.

Mobilize the troops! Arm vendors, sponsors, speakers, staff, and volunteers with targeted message content to help them drive attendance and increase exhibitors.

Creatively intertwine elements of messaging into each aspect of the conference:

· Create a logo, PPT template for the presenters

· Choose a color scheme

· Use messaging in social media campaign

· Clarify what the messaging means for all those involved with conference and what key messages will be

· Send out teaser invitations by mail, email, audio and video clips with elements of messages tied in

· Coordinate special events, experiences tied into messaging

· Incorporate specialty items in your booth at the conference that convey messaging (bags, T-shirts, pens, flash drives, etc.)

· Outfit your staff with special shirts with the messaging main tagline so they stand out

· Create a follow-up program with a survey to ensure that the proper messages were receive

· Record key messages from presenters for Mp3 downloads or send out a CD/DVD to reinforce messages

· If budget allows incorporate speakers and entertainment that reflect your messaging

Address Needs & Issues of Attendees and Exhibitors in all cconference messaging

Develop a list of needs potential attendees and exhibitors have as well as the pains and issues they face. Then, use this list to develop a communications grid that shows how attending and/or exhibiting at the conference can address each of these needs/issues/pains.
Next step – use this grid to develop a communications plan to inform potential attendees and exhibitors of how you can help them with their particular challenge by attending and/or exhibiting at the confernce.
Incorporate this messaging in email campaigns and social media and video - Keep it simple so people will read it. Success story format. List their issue or pain and a quick tip on how to solve pain. Challenge them with an action item – come to conference to solve your pain! Here is a hint – sign up for the conference to learn even more.
Have that call to action drive them to attend conference and/or exhibit at expo.

Make your conference website sizzle!

Create contests to incentivize people to attend
House teaser videos that highlight presentation content
Offer video / podcast interviews with presenters, vendors, sponsors
Provide testimonial interviews of people who have signed up already and why
Share links various videos and info about city conference is in.
Hyperlink all your other social networking channels (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube) to website
Use Facebook Places so attendees can “check in” when they arrive at the city airport, the hotel, the convention center, at participating exhibits, and in educational sessions. Have a contest or scavenger hunt tied to “Check Ins”.

Create buzz in conference city

Enlist staff and/or volunteers if you have them to find area organizations, companies, groups, and/or universities you can work with to promote the conference and provide discounted fees for their help and involvement.

Leverage speakers, your key members and board members (if you are a member based organization) that are ‘local’ to the area for interview opportunities (about the event itself, trend pieces, hot topics, etc.)

Reach out to local businesses even if they are not specifically related to your industry but can benefit from reaching your conference goers.

Cross promote event with other similar organizations. Start talking with them to see how they can co-sponsor or barter for awareness campaigns with their members through emails and articles.

Encourage Your Conference Presenters to Share – this facilitates a way to give potential attendees/members an early taste of what is to comes at the event, as well as give the conference speakers an opportunity to share how they’re involved with the event.

Each video / podcast can be loaded onto the conference website
Each entry will be shared on all of your social media channels
Each speaker will be urged to share it on his/her social networks along onto his/her company’s social channels

Press/Media

· Create a virtual conference newsroom – have internal updates for exhibitors once basic information for newsroom has been set up.

· Reach out to industry press to cover the event and in turn help drive traffic to event. Get them to start thinking about coming to the event. Get them excited about coming to conference to hear all the great presentations.

· Conduct joint press releases with exhibitors prior to conference.

· Have an enhanced press presence onsite and inform exhibitors well in advance of the conference.

· Send timely “Save the Date” to the press announcing conference.

Preconference Preview Webinar(s) – create a virtual roundtable with some of the conference speakers (this could be a one-time event or done once a month before the event begins.

· Allow speakers to talk about their presentation to get some before-conference buzz brewing

· Give your industries professionals ‘a taste of what is to come’ with the event

Offer discount codes – for the earlier months leading up to the conference promote a special conference discount code for those that are part of your social communities on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Make sure conference is listed in local / business journal calendars in city of conference.

LinkedIn event page – create an events page for the conference on LinkedIn to reach people in your industry who would be interested in attending.

2012 Marketing Crystal Ball

2011-12-13T14:24:00.006-06:00

This blog is brought to you by BrightBlue Marketing team member - Andrea Lamarsaude

As we head into the end of 2011 and towards the brand new year of 2012 the marketing soothsayers have been hard at work writing some great trends articles. Below are some interesting quotes, plus links to the full articles:

· The need for trust, value and brand transparency, among other trends from last year, are just as important today.

· Excelling in one area rather than being all things to all people. …small businesses to focus on their unique niches and position themselves as the definitive source for information, products and services related to the specific places in the markets where they operate.

· Google engineer Matt Cutts encouraged search marketers to focus on three areas over the next year:

o Social

o Local

o Mobile

The year 2011 saw a 400 percent increase in the number of mobile searches, with 74 percent of people using their mobile phones to search while running errands. For Black Friday this year we even saw advertisers attempting to lure customers away and steal competitor sales while they were waiting on line to make a purchase, as The New York Times reports.

In the face of the SoLoMo revolution, SMBs must not only adapt to new screens, but also to new ways of reaching customers.

· What else has the proliferation of smart phones done besides make us all mobile-crazy? It’s also driven us app crazy. And it’s not just Facebook, Twitter and Angry Birds, either. We’re turning to apps to help us run our businesses and be more efficient and, we hope, more profitable.

· Watch out for increased use of Location Based marketing, QR codes, Video and Infographics to name just a few.

· We’re seeing a big shift happening – a shift that will most likely continue throughout next year. Companies and organizations are now, finally, giving digital marketing channels precedence over traditional, analog media.

· Social media is starting to be an integral part of everything we do when marketing our business. This means that social media marketing will not be a separate activity but just one facet of your overall marketing plan. Much like SEO or email marketing, social media will be just one tool in the box.

5 Internet Marketing Trends for SMBs to Watch in 2012

http://smallbiztrends.com/2011/12/2012-internet-marketing-trends.html

Top 5 Marketing Trends 2012 – Infographics, Video and Social Media

http://frameconcepts.com/top-5-marketing-trends-2012-infographics-video-and-social-media/

Top Marketing Trends for 2012

http://www.abnormalmarketing.com/2011/12/top-marketing-trends-for-2012/

PR, Communication, and Marketing Trends 2012 – Part 1 and 2

http://socialmediatoday.com/mynewsdesk/397789/pr-communication-and-marketing-trends-2012-part-1

http://socialmediatoday.com/mynewsdesk/397790/pr-communication-and-marketing-trends-2012-part-2

Top 5 marketing trends for 2012: Start with big data

http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebizbite/2011/12/07/top-5-marketing-trends-for-2012-start-with-big-data/

Social media marketing and business trends 2012

http://www.dreamgrow.com/social-media-marketing-and-business-trends-2012/

2011 and 2012 Marketing Trends – “Be On The Cutting-Edge, Not The Bleeding-Edge!”

http://steveslightbulbmoments.com/?p=521

-Andrea Lamarsaude

Ask Maggie the Marketer 12-6-12

2011-12-06T13:19:00.007-06:00

Dear Maggie the Marketer,

It is that time of year again….the time when some businesses are challenged by what to send out for their holiday greetings. They try to sound sincere and heartfelt when sending out to everyone who has ever even so much as thought about using their product or service a holiday card that is so generic and carefully politically correct that you aren’t even sure what holiday it is for. I believe that some of them are truly heartfelt wishes, but many give the impression of having been chugged out of a giant printing press and sent by a company where most of the executives have no idea that the card has been sent out and who knows even less about the person that is receiving it.

As a business owner who has survived these tough economic times on the loyalty of my customers, I would like to send out something for the holidays that really is sincere and will somehow try to express my appreciation of their loyalty to my company through good times and bad.

How do I show my sincere appreciation and wishes for their happiness during the holidays without it being something they just toss aside with all the other generic holiday greetings?

Signed,

Wishing to share Cheer in Chattanooga

Dear Cheerful in Chattanooga,

Depending on your budget, which may be tight this year, there are several things you can do to show your loyal customers how much you sincerely appreciate them.

1. Offer free or discounted product or service

The first thing that pops into my mind given the tough economic times that we have all been through, is to give them some sort of price break on whatever it is they purchase from you since they obviously value your product or service. Depending on what they purchase from your company, you could give them a discount on your services for a period of time or a discount on the product they purchase the most. You might even consider giving them some sort of product or service for free if that is feasible.

2. A card with a handwritten note inside for each customer/client

It is rare for anyone to “hand write” anything these days and that is a good way to make an impression of sincerity and that the card was meant specifically for them. Be sure you mention something about that customer/client or the product or service they purchase from you to personalize it further.

3. Donation to a charity in the customer's name

This is a great idea if you know your client/customer is passionate about a particular charity or group. You can find out by checking their website to see if they mention that they partner with a charity, etc. If you have been to the client/customer’s home or office and know they love dogs or cats; you could make a donation to the local SPCA or a rescue group for the breed they prefer. If they have mentioned a family member suffering from a certain illness you could give a donation to that cause like the American Cancer Association or the Alzheimer’s Association. There are any number of causes you can donate to in someone else’s name so get creative!

4. Stop by their office and sing them a Holiday carol

Or if your singing voice would not be considered a gift J, you could drop off some holiday treats of some sort or have lunch or breakfast catered for them as a sign of your appreciation.

5. A fun and creative ecard with a personalized note

If your client/customer is more of the “techy” sort, find one of the creative greetings on line that you can email. There are many to choose from out there, but Jib Jab is an example. You can personalize many of these creative email greetings and make it something they would want to forward and show to others. Hey, then you get some extra marketing on the side!

The important thing is that it will pay off in the long run if you take the extra time to personalize your holiday greetings!

PS. If any of our readers out there have even more ideas for “Cheerful”, please share them!

Stepping into 2012 with your best “virtual” marketing foot forward

2011-11-28T11:47:00.005-06:00

This blog post is brought to you by BrightBlue Marketing team member: Andrea Lamarsaude

What? Wait a minute! I’ve eaten the last slice of Thanksgiving pecan pie (real pie, not virtual), survived Black Friday and now I’m contemplating the deals for Cyber Monday. And when I blink again I’m going to be trying to remember all the words to Auld Lang Syne! I’m sure I can Google that. That’s it, so long 2011, hello 2012! I don’t know about you but this year was gone in a flash!

From a marketing perspective it was non stop! Working with our clients at BrightBlue was simply amazing! And the first half of my presidency for the DFW American Marketing Association went by in a fantastic blur.

Much of my focus at BrightBlue this year was on virtual marketing – partnering with clients to craft an effective social media strategy and then creating social media content calendars, writing/editing Tweets, Facebook posts and LinkedIn discussions, tracking increases in friends, followers and members, writing email blasts, e-newsletters and web content, and constantly monitoring the return on investment of all these channels.

The recent Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) study conducted by IBM showed social media is one of four challenges CMOs see as, “pervasive, universal game-changers.” The other’s being “the data explosion, proliferation of channels and devices, and shifting consumer demographics.”

I highly recommend reading the complete IBM marketing study titled "From Stretched to Strengthened" based on face-to-face conversations with over 1700 CMOs spanning 19 industries and 64 countries. It’s available for free from the IBM CMO Study website. It’s the first of its kind and contains a wealth of information about “what CMO’s are doing to help their enterprises cope with the fundamental shifts transforming business and the world.”

At a 2011 DFW AMA Luncheon, Director of Strategy & Performance, Marketing Solutions at American Airlines, Inc. Linda Carlson and Principal at Click Here, Inc, James Hering echoed the CMO study, discussing how social media is top of mind for large corporations as well, when they talked about how the growth of CRM, the impact of the Internet, social media and mobile, and other new direct-to-customer touch points are creating untapped cross-platform networks for brands.

Gareth Case, Head of Marketing at ONI Plc, in his recent article Top 5 Marketing Trends 2012 – Infographics, Video and Social Media cites social media as, “Trending in a big way…” Not just “Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, etc. they have been trending for a some time now…” He cites, “business applications that are social in their very make-up (such as) SalesForce’s Chatter, Cisco’s Jabber, Show and Share and Quad” as one’s to watch in 2012. Case also cites Location Based Marketing, QR Codes, Video and Infographics as top marketing trends to “look out for as we approach 2012.”

So knowing all this where do we go from here as marketers? How do we succeed in this omnipresent virtual marketing world that is happily here to stay for the foreseeable future? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

It’s interesting to note that whatever plan of attack we as marketers pursue that, “…in the course of (IBM’s) conversations with CMOs worldwide, an over- whelming consensus emerged….

They must understand and deliver value to empowered customers; create lasting relationships with those customers; and measure marketing’s contribution to the business in relevant, quantifiable terms.”

So what’s the bottom line? For marketers it all comes back to ROI. The CMO study revealed:

Nearly two-thirds of CMOs think return on marketing investment will be the primary measure of their effectiveness by 2015. But proving that value is difficult. Even among the most successful enterprises, half of all CMOs feel insufficiently prepared to provide hard numbers.

What about you? Are you prepared?

- Andrea Lamarsaude

Trail of Lights 2011

2011-11-02T11:00:00.003-05:00

Today we announced that this year's Austin community holiday event will no longer include Trail of Lights due to a shortfall in funding.

The return of the Trail of Lights depended on community and business sponsorship contributions to make the event possible. Our team spent months of hard work in reaching out to thousands and thousands of business leaders in Austin. In the end it came down to difficult economic circumstances and budgets that were tapped.

We had major benchmarks along the way, and the latest was the financial commitment to set up onsite at Zilker Park which was to begin today, November 2nd. We could not meet that benchmark due to these financial commitments needed to move forward.

I'd like to personally thank the enormous support we received for the return of the Trail of Lights Austin by the community, the wonderful team who contributed their time and hard work, the City of Austin, and all of the sponsors, vendors and volunteers that have committed to this event. All donations and payments are being returned to the Trail of Light supporters.

We are of course deeply disappointed that we will not be able to hold the Trail of Lights event this year, but are not going to give up and plan to move forward on planning and fundraising for the 2012 Trail of Lights Austin.

We are working with the city to provide the Austin HolidayFest 2011 that will still give the community a family-friendly holiday event this December.

You can see our press release at http://www.trailoflightsaustin.com/press with more information.

How to get the word out about your new service or product using all marketing and PR tools

2011-10-14T11:02:00.009-05:00

The Think Tank conference call takes the format of an open discussion that allows for everyone to share best practices and experiences relating to a relevant topic.

The call was facilitated by Andrea Lamarsaude, with BrightBlue Marketing and was Co-Hosted by Candace Miller with BrightBlue Marketing and Narciso Tovar from Big Noise Communications. Also on the call was Melissa Bourestom (BrightBlue Marketing), Diana Christensen (BrightBlue Marketing), David Royce (US Department of Commerce), Amy Vercruysse (BrightBlue Marketing), and John Cullens (Prism Group).

With an increasing number of brands now creating innovative, fresh and unique social media campaigns alongside their new product launches, it is important that the focus remains on ‘utilizing’ social media as part of a wider strategy, rather than ‘relying’ on social media to launch the product. Social media certainly presents companies with a fantastic opportunity to extend and compliment the impact of their more traditional marketing and online PR activities. Interestingly, the most success is often seen by those brands that are able to effectively integrate their social media, marketing and PR efforts into a focused, innovative and overarching narrative - creating engagement, interaction and consumer ‘buzz’ across multiple platforms as a result. -George Guildford - Account Manager at digital PR agency Punch Communications

Discussion questions:

What are some traditional marketing and PR tools you can use to create early buzz about a new service or product offering?

Mail and email are still strong: Some people do still read mail and since there is less now, it can stand out more
Traditional methods are especially good for the initial stages of a campaign.
Email is more cost effective as mail does have postage costs
Should be used in unison with traditional supporting the newer social media tools
Keep messages brief when using traditional methods

What are some examples of new service or product launches you have seen that successfully enhanced their marketing and PR campaigns with social media?

Membership drives – use social media to promote contests and incentives; early bird gets the worm, discounts for joining as a member, etc.
Bonus offering for those that re-tweet; Such as: room discounts at conferences, etc.

Is it possible to be sending out too many communications via PR, Marketing and Social Media? What is a good number of activities to go by?

Yes, you can send out too many communications
Be routine so people know to expect something from you – once a week or once a month
Do 6-8 over a period of time
Takes a minimum of 7 “touches” to be top of mind with someone through communications
Send communications from multiple channels; partner with another company or association to cross promote
Tell your contacts that they will receive so many communications in the weeks to come; they will expect to see something and they see consistency
Days of the week are important; not Monday as people are trying to catch up over the weekend and have a lot in their in-boxes

How do you choose and narrow down which marketing tools to use when there are so many choices?

A lot has to do with your audience
Where does your target audience go for their information
Use the tool or tools that best communicates with your audience
Twitter tips: start by following others that relate to your industry, then see who they follow and start following those that would be in your target audience; you can have more than one Twitter account to focus on different parts of your business
Facebook tips: It is very time consuming and you need to make sure this audience is your target; tie your promotions to a good cause – a donation will go to a charity when they purchase what you are promoting

Have you seen examples of trying to integrate social media into a campaign that missed the mark? What were they and why did they?

Issues are normally caused by a bad list or an unclean list
If you purchase a list you have to go through and clean it to your target audience
Make sure your own lists are updated and cleaned periodically
There has to be follow up to all of your campaigns or you will lose the momentum
Be sure you are targeting the correct contact person in an organization

How have Press Releases helped or not helped the launch of a new product or service?

Press Releases seem to be becoming less popular as a marketing tool
For them to be effective you have to aim at the right outlets to create the right buzz
You do get a lot of SEO from Press Releases which is always good
Should still send them out, but they probably shouldn’t be a huge focus of a marketing campaign
It has to be well written with compelling content
You need to use the paid PR sites to post your release; the free ones won’t do much
Paid services usually give you some type of report so you can see what is happening with it
Partner with sponsors or partner organizations to work together on each others Press Releases

How do you activate your database to help you market your new product or service?

Use your core “fan base”; those people in your database that are always your greatest cheerleaders
Give incentives of some sort for them to talk about your new product or service
Come up with a fun “gimmick” that will get people talking (like ETrade babies)

Can you cite some successful ways social media has been integrated into email marketing campaigns? Not so successful ways?

Adding the icons for FB, LinkedIn, and Twitter into emails that people can click on and go straight there

What are ways that marketing/PR and social media can successfully work together to promote an event or conference?

Gets the word out to a large group of people
Find some sort of story related to your event/conference (how it helped someone, something funny that happened previously, etc.) that the media will pick up
Every time you add a sponsor send out a Tweet or FB post giving them special notice and they will share it with their database
Use milestones for what you are sending out; call for sponsors, call for papers, announce list of sessions that will be at event, announce keynote speakers, etc.
Remember, social media can’t really be completely controlled so you have to be prepared for the negative comments as well as the positive. There tends to be more pros than cons in the long run

Further Reading

Four Ways Brands Can Use Social Media in New Product Launches

http://socialmediatoday.com/george-guildford/268906/four-ways-brands-can-utilise-social-media-maximise-launch-new-products

Using social media as a marketing tool

http://www.slideshare.net/mjmhelp/using-social-media-as-a-marketing-tool-1235500

The New Rules of Marketing and PR - How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly

http://books.google.com/books/about/The_New_Rules_of_Marketing_and_PR.html?id=ZV-GPw5BYq0C

Ways to integrate social media you're your email marketing

http://community.dynamics.com/roletailored/salesmarketing/b/lookingglassmarketing/archive/2011/09/25/3-ways-to-integrate-social-media-with-your-email-marketing.aspx

How to integrate social media you're your live event

http://socialmediatoday.com/eveorsburn1/368376/how-integrate-social-media-your-live-event

Integrating social media into PR teaching and practice

http://craigpearce.info/public-relations/integrating-social-media-pr-teaching-practice/

Interns Needed for Trail of Lights Austin event

2011-10-03T12:18:00.005-05:00

Interns Needed for Trail of Lights Austin event!!

We are excited to have signed a contract with the City of Austin for producing the Trail of Lights Austin holiday event.

We are in need of the following interns:

Event Marketing Coordinator Intern
Videographer Intern
Photographer Intern
Sales & Marketing Coordinator Intern

If you are interested, please contact HR@brightbluemarketing.com for more information!

We look forward to hearing from you,

The BrightBlue Marketing and Trail of Lights Austin Team

Ask Maggie the Marketer

2011-09-19T13:01:00.009-05:00

Welcome to our newest BrightBlue team member, Maggie the Marketer! If you have a question for Maggie, just post it as a comment here and watch for your answer in an upcoming post!

Dear Maggie the Marketer,

I have been having pretty good luck with building a fan base on the various social media outlets; however, I am stuck when it comes to converting those fans/friends to actual paying customers. How can I turn my popularity into sales? Can you help me?

-Popular but Penniless in Pittsburgh

Dear Popular but Penniless,

I am excited to hear that you are making friends and fans out there in Social Media because you have set yourself up on the road to success in this interactive and virtually driven world in which we now live. The key to conversion is simple and time tested: Bribe them! OK, I probably ought to use a more user friendly term: Entice them!

Create some special VIP offers, special discounts and/or exclusive valuable information that is not available to the public and that are good only for your Twitter followers, your Facebook fans, or blog followers. Everyone likes to feel special and to be given VIP treatment or to feel like they are getting a better deal than the guy next door. Work with that human desire and watch the sales start rolling in!

A note of caution: Repetition is key and this tactic is not for the easily discouraged! Don’t expect it to work the first time you put it in front of them. Keep tossing those bribes, er uh, enticements, out to your fans and eventually they will bite. Also, create different bribes, oh sorry, enticements for each of your different Social Media avenues (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blog). That way your fans/friends/connections will want to connect with you on all social media fronts so they don’t miss out on anything, thus increasing your following everywhere.

So, Popular you will be Penniless no more!

Maggie

If you have a question for Maggie the Marketer, please comment here and watch for your answer coming soon!

Make them believe!

2011-09-13T09:46:00.004-05:00

This blog is brought to you by BrightBlue Marketing team member, Andrea Lamarsaude.

In today’s challenging economic times now more then ever marketers need to be able to prove their worth. Stakeholders, both internal and external, want tangible proof that marketing adds value. How can marketers make them believe?

In her recent article “The Believers Versus the Non-Believers: Convincing Internal Partners that Marketing Can Help Drive Business Results,” Kimberley Whitler, Contributor at Forbes cites that, “scholars found that marketers have greater influence when they are more accountable and innovative (Verhoef and Leeflang 2009). Whitler recommends several ways to “drive greater impact and influence the non-believers” one of which is to speak to stakeholders in their language. For example, “when talking with finance…use data that shows how marketing is contributing to the firm’s overall financial performance.”

What will that Tweet get me in return?

Social media has become an integral part of most everyone’s marketing mix. But how do you measure results? Amanda Stillwagon at Small Business CEO has a great list of tools a business can use to measure their social media campaigns results:

Addictomatic – this is a news aggregator but can also be used to monitor social media. You just need to put in the name of a topic (i.e: name or category of your business) and you’ll receive the latest feeds about that certain topic.
Analytic.ly – this tool gives you a customized report on your targeted audience depending on your campaign platform. You can create a customized analytics platform and search keywords and @names for a price. As of press time, the Social Media Command Center and Viral Analytics is priced at $9 a month.
Grader – this is a cornucopia of tools which helps measure and analyzes how effective are the marketing strategies you use for your business.
Google Feedburner – this is a free tool from where you can burn feeds from your sites and you would be able to track how many subscribers you have, check how many views and clicks are generated from your sites and even track your podcast downloads.
Social Networking Media ROI Calculator – this is a free online tool from DragonSearch which calculates all your social media efforts and its relation to how much you are spending on networking sites.
Twitalyzer – this tool starts with a free trial but you would need to subscribe to get automatic updates, full data export, email support and other services. The price for subscription depends on whether you are using the tool as an individual, business or agency. Basically, this tool informs you of your impact score or your percentile rank, which kind of influencer you are, your location, among others.

Stillwagon says, “Analyzing the metrics is just a part of the bigger picture.” It’s important to “incorporate the metrics you got from the monitoring tools you use and see how they affect sales and customer retention and other output goal markers you have.”

In his article “How Does Marketing Provide Value?” R.L. Remenyi, a Contributor at eHow sums it up quite nicely:

Recognition

Marketing plays a critical role in most businesses' success. Marketing provides value in many ways, but the biggest way is through recognition. You know you have a successful marketing plan and strategy in place when your company is recognized and your brand is trusted. A good example is Google. Many people say they are going to "Google" something, but what they really mean is that they are going to do an Internet search. Most companies won't see Google's level of recognition, but a good marketing plan can help you increase recognition and, you hope, sales.  

Build Trust

If you have good marketing techniques in place, you will start building recognition, but you want the type of recognition that will help build trust in your company. Trust will prompt people to put their faith in your product or services and choose you over your competition. To build trust, you must employ marketing techniques that hit your target market with precisely the message you want to convey. You want to set yourself apart from your competition.  

Gain New Customers

With the proper marketing techniques come not only recognition and trust, but more customers and clients. As you market your services or products, you will gain brand recognition, which will ultimately lead to more people wanting your products and services. If you are unsure that you are getting more customers from your marketing campaign, put in place a way to track it. This can be as simple as asking new customers how they heard about your company or your products.  

Build Relationships

Once you get the ball rolling on recognition and trust and you start getting new clients, it is important to continue marketing. But now, you'll also want to target your existing customers. This is where you can really build your business. If you maintain solid relationships with your clients, they'll keep coming back as well as recommend to their friends and family that they use your services. By applying good marketing techniques to your current clients and customers, you will make them feel like insiders and make them feel that they are special and valued in some way. There are many ways to build relationships through marketing. One good example is to ask clients for their opinions. Ask them what you could do to improve your services or products. By asking them questions you are making them feel more involved in your business and you have a platform for a continued relationship.  

Have you been challenged to prove your marketing worth? How did you respond? Let’s get a dialogue going about how we can make marketing believers out of skeptical stakeholders!

-Andrea Lamarsaude

PR is not just writing a Press Release

2011-09-12T11:58:00.010-05:00

The topic for our Think Tank call this month was: PR is not just writing a Press Release. The call was facilitated by Andrea Lamarsaude, with BrightBlue Marketing and was Co-Hosted by Narciso Tover with Big Noise Communications.

1. If you had to describe public relations, what would you say?

-“Public Relations helps an organization and its public mutually adapt to each other” as defined by PRSA.

-Public image

-Means of communicating facts about your organization to the public

-Reputation management

-Fact based, things that have happened, will happen, etc. Not always marketing and/or promotion

-Message management, corporate reputation, crisis management, etc.

Should work hand in hand with marketing

-Only 1 facet of the overall marketing package

-Does not stand alone

-Reinforces the rest of your messaging

2. When you hear industry pundits talking about why the 'press release is dead' what do you think they are referring to?

-The Press Release is dead only if you don’t know how to distribute it properly or how to write it.

-You should not over use it

-Must do follow up and have a plan of how to work it

-Must use other marketing tools with a Press Release for it to be effective

-More opportunity to use the press release by posting on FB, Twitter, etc.

3. Do you think that PR stunts still work?

-Can’t be overtly obvious of trying to tell people how great you are

-Fine line between self promotion and allowing your client to shine

-Must to be in good taste with the correct audience and the correct venue

-Must target the right audience, including those that will amplify your message

- Must have a call to action

-They tend to be forgotten quickly without a call to action due to all the media we have these days and the short attention spans of Americans

-Must keep the digital minds of the “millennial” generation in mind when distributing

4. Where do you think public relations can truly shine? Can you share examples of when you or your client(s) used a press release with great success?

-When Big Noise was able to get a client on a national morning news program for the first time. The client was trying to market their Wireless Security Solution (one of the first out of the gate with this solution). It was a hot topic at that time and they used this as part of the pitch to get the client on to the program initially. Over the next few days, because of that one 2 minute interview the client’s stock value jumped 30%.

-You have to keep the momentum going; even after a big success like that you have to be ready with the next thing to keep the momentum going.

-When you bring it in together with some analyst relations efforts: Example: Vonage launch – they provided voice over IP and, while there were a lot of others out there doing the same thing, there were a lot of issues on clarity, security, industry writers bringing up the issue of calling 911, etc. So, they made sure that they tested the product with some of these influential writers in that niche and with analysts. Analysts were very good about pointing out all the issues or other applications. Analysts can help you fine tune your product before you launch because that is all they do in that niche market. Analysts can help to champion your products.

5. When thinking about crisis management and the press what are some do’s and don’ts and golden rules to live to make sure the ball does not get dropped. Can you cite some examples of where crisis management was done correctly and where it was not?

-Example: Tiger Woods- he was always a very private person so, when the scandal broke, for him to come and make a statement quickly went against his private nature, However he really should have come out immediately to stop, or at least somewhat control what eventually happened.

-Brand management has to be addressed quickly and thoughtfully. Don’t take the stance of not justifying the crisis with a response; this will not come across well to the public.

-Always have a Plan B or a Crisis plan ready. When you have the plan in place already then you will not be react emotionally. You will just follow the plan that was thought out prior to the crisis with a clear, calm head.

-The public tends to forgive faster when you are upfront, transparent and honest about the issue.

-Example: Congressman Weiner - He did go out and respond immediately, but he lied and didn’t answer the questions directly. Once the public finds out you were lying (which they usually do) you cannot regain your credibility.

6. Media Training tips:

-Find out whom in the organization is media trained and how long it has been since their training; may need a refresher course.

-Test the waters by getting the organization’s media rep. an interview with a smaller media outlet; like a hometown paper, etc. Make sure you are there to listen and assist when needed. The rep will always know if they did well or not, so you can then give them some constructive coaching.

-Have talking points for the spokesperson

-Be sure the spokesperson can say the talking points in their own words, not just reading them.

-Practice so that the spokesperson is comfortable and familiar with what they need to say.

7. Have you seen any bad pitches that various members of the press have received? Where do you think the pitch went awry?

-Form letters are bad

-Do not use Twitter, email, or the phone to try to bully a reporter, they will write a piece about it and you will not look good – they will name names.

-website: where they share bad examples for you to avoid - Badpitch.blogspot.com

Final thoughts:

-Be sure all your marketing efforts are well coordinated

-All Press Releases should be relevant to the audience

Links to further reading:

The Public Relations Society of America at their 1982 National Assembly formally adopted a definition of public relations, which remains widely accepted and used today:

“Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.”

“Organization” is denoted in this context, as opposed to the more limiting “company” or “business,” to stress public relations’ use by businesses, trade unions, government agencies, voluntary associations, foundations, hospitals, schools, colleges, religious groups and other societal institutions.

“Publics” recognizes the need to understand the attitudes and values of — and to develop effective relationships with — many different stakeholders, such as employees, members, customers, local communities, shareholders and other institutions, and with society at large.

For more details visit the link http://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/PublicRelationsDefined/

Big Noise Communications blog: http://methodandmoxie.com/

What is PR? Six experts explain public relations value: http://craigpearce.info/public-relations/pr-experts-explain-public-relations/

Public Relations Plays a Vital Role in the News Cycle: http://blog.prnewswire.com/2011/07/20/public-relations-plays-a-vital-role-in-the-news-cycle/

Is the press release *really* dead?: http://www.arikhanson.com/2011/02/02/is-the-press-release-really-dead/

Oh, And One More Thing On Fielding Questions - Media Training: http://www.forbes.com/sites/tjwalker/2011/07/26/oh-and-one-more-thing-on-fielding-questions-media-training/

News Corp.’s Costly Crisis Management: HTTP://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304567604576456222770513148.html

Cavalcade: Crisis Management Skills – The Do’s and Don’ts: http://www.knickledger.com/2011/06/cavalcade-crisis-management-skills-the-dos-and-donts/

I’m thinking of staging a PR stunt. Do they actually work?: http://www.startupsmart.com.au/mentor/michael-halligan/2011-08-03/im-thinking-of-staging-a-pr-stunt.-do-they-actually-work.html

FD/ Forbes Insights Strategic Initiatives Study: http://fd.com/Libraries/Documents_For_Download/FD_Forbes_Release_FINAL__FTI_Revisions_032311.sflb.ashx

How Public Relations Works: http://communication.howstuffworks.com/how-public-relations-works1.htm

Report: PR pro is the second-most stressful job: http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/Report_PR_pro_is_the_secondmost_stressful_job_7998.aspx

If you need help with your organization's PR please let us know.

If you have some great stories of how PR has worked well or maybe not so well - we would love to hear them!

Marketing Essentials - Top 10 marketing tools

2011-08-30T09:01:00.010-05:00

This blog is brought to you by Candace Miller, CEO of BrightBlue Marketing, Inc.

Have you ever wondered where to start when marketing your business or organization?

Below you will find the Top 10 Tools that will help you do just that!

Create a mini marketing plan – this a guide to ensure everyone in the company on same track and includes:

Who, what, where, why and how
Why – why are you sending this message; what pain are you trying to solve for your customer
Who you are going to be targeting for this message
What & How is strategy/business focus
When is the timing

Create a compelling message

Be consistent with this message throughout your organization/business
Clearly state your differentiators and your customer’s pain that you are solving
Have a business card laminated with the message on it to give to employees
Create a message repository to pull from

Establish a following

Work through social media

Build a database

Buy lists
Clean your database
Join LinkedIn Groups, Associations and Sponsorships

Continue with Habitual Outreach

To customers, prospects and partners
Create mind share; this is key

Partner with Partners

Sell together with complementary products or services
Partner with industry expert

Build Credibility

By blogging and speaking

Showcase successes

SPS Story
Show – Don’t tell
Customer Reference

Create follow up Campaigns

Telemarketing
Email campaigns to those that clicked through the initial message

Track Results

See what’s working and what’s not working and analyze it
Pilot 2 campaigns at the same time and compare results (change headline on one)

Follow these steps and you will be on your way to a successful marketing campaign!
Let us know if you have some tips that you have found helpful and, as always, BrightBlue Marketing is always here to help you!

- Candace Miller

Event Technology to the Max!

2011-08-08T09:17:00.013-05:00

This blog is brought to you by BrightBlue Marketing team member - Andrea Lamarsaude.

I recently attended the Trade Show Technology Summit (TSTS) held at ImagineXhibits in Richardson, Texas to learn more about the latest technology tools available for events and was amazed at all the options available!

Here is just a sample of some of the cutting edge technology offered today for trade shows and events:

According to comScore Inc., a global leader in measuring the digital world and a respected source of digital business analytics, 78.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in June 2011, up 8 percent from the preceding three month period. And this growth shows no sign of letting up. We love our smart phones and we love all the applications available for them. The meeting planning industry has hopped on the smartphone application (apps) bandwagon and as a result there are an amazing array of meeting apps available for all aspects of events from searching for hotels, resorts, restaurants and attractions to operating your meeting, trade show or event. There are a number of apps designed to aid event attendees to be able to connect with each other, share schedules, and download their conference agenda or event itinerary. To see what’s available check out MeetingApps, a very organized web portal that collects mobile applications by category for event planning.

At the Summit just about every exhibiting company was using an iPad or other tablet-based PC. These highly portable devices are a perfect way to explain a product or service, conduct an interactive demo with an attendee or small group of attendees, show a streaming video to better explain a particular aspect of an offering, conduct an at show survey, gather lead data or display a mobile app in a larger version.

High-definition video conferencing is now available via Skype for free! The 5.0 beta version, with 760p high-def. video conferencing, has the ability to conference in four callers at the same time. How will this be a benefit at an event? Jessica Davis with the Tradeshow Insider’s blog sums it up nicely, “This capability will prove ideal for speakers presenting remotely at events or for conferencing customers or partners in to on-site meetings or press events. The price of video conferencing technology has plummeted, and along with increasingly more dependable Internet connections, the video reliability is excellent."

Tired of dealing with the high prices and so so connectivity of the wireless service provided at an event? Now there’s another choice – the folks at Trade Show Internet provides Internet access at trade shows, meetings, and conferences for individual exhibitors as well as entire events. They can help you measurably increase ROI by bringing down Internet costs in line with reality at hotels and convention centers. Because they work directly with cellular Internet providers they can offer Internet connectivity inside almost any venue in the U.S., including venues that may already have an 'exclusive' in-house provider. By using their Internet Kit, a completely self-contained mobile Internet hotspot, they’ll help you and your exhibitors stay connected and avoid the outrageous in-house Internet fees.

I invite you to check out an insightful article in Inc. by Christine Lagorio titled, The New Rules of Event Marketing. It’s chock full of great information on additional game changing high tech options for events including, “creating an event within an event” employing social and video media, using GPS to live track an object or objects at an event, weaving in 3D or augmented reality in your tradeshow, and using “ubiquitous social networking as a conduit for exclusivity” for attendees at events.

Of course the end goal of employing any or all of these high tech tools is to aid in maximizing the ROI of your event. We’d like to hear from you. What technology tools have you employed in your events or trade shows? What were the results?

-Andrea Lamarsaude

Management of Large-Scale Events

2011-07-18T10:54:00.011-05:00

This blog is brought to you by BrightBlue team member Amy Vercruysse. Amy is an Event Director for BrightBlue Marketing.

Events of all sizes have a number of things in common: logistics need to be worked out, production value is key, hiring the necessary staff is critical, and of course programming is the hook that draws the crowd. There are many moving parts to events that need to be coordinated. For large-scale events – which, for this article, can be considered outdoor events that host over 10,000 guests per day – these elements grow exponentially.

Production is the root of all events.

“Production” refers to the infrastructure of the event and will include such things as fencing, permits, traffic control, crowd control, security, staging, lighting, tents, porta-potties, installations, electrical, phone/data and water supply. There are many things an event can’t do without, like staff, sponsors and volunteers, but without proper and well-executed production then there is no event and poorly planned production will kill any event.

Getting production right means hiring the best person for the job, someone with experience who understands the details as well the big picture and can manage all the elements and staff that are necessary to implement the production needs. This person will have to be highly organized and able to multi-task like no other.

What roles should be filled by staff and what by volunteers?

All of the management team should be paid staff, as these are demanding positions that require experience and know-how. Staffing should include:

Producer in charge of the entire event

Production director

Programming manager

Volunteer coordinator

Marketing and PR manager

Sponsorship manager

These folks may wear more than one hat, and will have teams that work under them which could include additional paid staff, volunteers, and interns. Volunteers can be assigned to handle onsite duties such as:

Gate/line management

Traffic control

General event assistance

For insurance purposes, volunteers generally do not do heavy lifting or operating of machinery.

Insurance

Insurance will be required and can be pricey depending on the nature of the event. Vendors and suppliers at the event should be required to carry insurance as well, naming the producer company as an additionally insured. There are insurance companies that specialize in entertainment insurance and those will generally be less pricey than an agency that does not specialize.

Getting the word out

Because events typically depend on ticket sales as a revenue stream it’s necessary to get the word out about the event using a multi-faceted marketing and PR campaign. This can and should include:

Social media

Radio

Online

Television advertising

Promotional ticket giveaways

Media sponsors

Media sponsors come in very handy and are great for conducting promotions which should showcase sponsors and the exciting programming going on at the event. A good PR campaign could consist of ongoing outreach to the media that also showcases sponsors, such as a check presentation photo opportunity. PR is also a great way to enlist sponsors and volunteers, in addition to the regular promoting of the event and its various elements.

Sponsorship is the primary revenue stream for events and as such should be a top priority. It’s not enough to find sponsors, but taking good care of them and treating them as the partners they are in the event is essential in order to ensure a smooth relationship with them and have them return for future events. They should be a strong focus in marketing and PR as well as onsite. To avoid “logo soup” it’s best to concentrate on and find high-level sponsors who will bring value to the event and be enjoyed by the guests.

Planning and executing a great event requires many months or longer, due to the complicated nature of large-scale events and the time it takes to acquire sponsors. Most large-scale events have year-round full time staff and ramp up their staffing as the event draws closer. By event time there could easily be a couple hundred staff and volunteers involved.

Looking for the best people to run your event? Contact BrightBlue Marketing!

-Amy Vercruysse

Bridging the Gap between Sales and Marketing - How Better Cooperation Fills the Pipeline More Effectively and Efficiently

2011-07-05T09:52:00.003-05:00

The topic for our Think Tank call this month was:

Bridging the Gap between Sales and Marketing - How Better Cooperation Fills the Pipeline More Effectively and Efficiently

The call was facilitated by Andrea Lamarsaude, with BrightBlue Marketing and was Co-Hosted by Candace Miller with BrightBlue Marketing, Bob Howard with Contact Science, and Barry Caponi with Caponi Performance Group. Also on the call was one the co-creators of the Think Tank call series - Narciso Tovar from Big Noise Communications.

By way of background - the Think Tank conference call takes the format of an open discussion that allows for everyone to share best practices and experiences relating to a relevant topic. For those of you who attended the recent web seminar on this same topic our latest Think Tank call will serve as a follow up to that seminar.

BrightBlue Marketing and Big Noise Communication have been conducting Think Tank calls once a month for over a year, with each call focusing on relevant and timely Marketing and PR topics. You can visit BrightBlue’s blog to see summaries of previous calls and links to further reading on the respective topics. Just go to www.brightbluemarketing.com and click on our Blog link.

The following topics were discussed on the call:

1. Some of the causes for gaps between sales and marketing:

Unspecified expectations, and not agreed upon expectations

Lack of communication between sales and marketing

Both departments are expecting the other to do more than what they are

Sales and marketing have different goals and may even be targeting different audiences

Lack of trust between the two departments

Lack of collaboration and connecting both departments’ efforts

Lack of understanding of what each department does and their respective value

No integration of technology when they do try to communicate

Marketing needs reports to see what has happened with leads that a campaign has generated, but sales only gets paid when they are selling so it is hard for them to take the time to create the reports

There is not a process in place to pursue the activity that marketing supplies to sales

2. Level of accountability for feeding the pipeline between marketing and sales:

Sales thinks marketing should be solely responsible for generating leads, but marketing knows that they cannot produce the full amount of leads for sales and sales must do prospecting

If marketing could fill the pipeline alone, then sales would not be paid as much; sales get paid because it is not easy

Can’t have over reaching expectations for each side

They both have to be willing to work together

3. Responsibility for bridging the expectations gap between sales and marketing:

It has to start at the top

Managers should encourage and facilitate it by conducting joint meetings with sales and marketing

Invite sales to marketing meetings and vice versa

Each department needs to understand the challenges and limitations of the other department

Upper management should create collaboration between the two departments to reach the common goal

Both departments should be accountable for the same goals

Measure the goals as a team effort with both departments

Initial appointments are measurable to keep everyone accountable

4. Nurturing the lead – whose role is it?

Successes have you seen when lead nurturing is part of the lead generation process. (As a general definition - Lead Nurturing is the process of communicating to a lead on an ongoing basis in order to educate, inform, continue to qualify and build a relationship until the lead is sales-ready)

Marketing generally has the major role in lead nurturing at the beginning

When the lead is nurtured, it becomes sales-ready for the sales team; however, marketing cannot always do all the nurturing without any help from sales

Sales has responsibility when they don’t get a sale. They then need to ask if marketing can continue to communicate with them

Sales must give some background as to why this lead is still worth nurturing for the future

5. Improvements marketing can make to improve the number of appointments set by sales:

Prioritize the list of leads for those that look like the easiest to close

Once sales has exhausted their efforts they can then turn it back to marketing to try to re-nurture

Sales must communicate why a lead is being turned back to marketing so marketing will know why this is still a potentially viable lead for the future

Make sure that sales knows the messaging that marketing is using and what audience they are targeting

Make sure that sales is using the same messaging

Create small business cards with the company’s messaging in bullet points for sales to refer to

Senior management of both sales and marketing should go out with sales on some sales calls

6. Have you been a part of a coordinated marketing and sales effort, and if so what effect did this coordinated effort have on the business aspect of telephone prospecting?

Very important for marketing people to join with sales on their update calls as well as periodically joining them on their sales calls with customers

It helps them to see what sales needs more of & what customer feedback is with the marketing effort

It helps if marketing gets to see and hear the techniques and processes that sales use to close sales

The value proposition doesn’t matter unless you manage to get them to the point of really listening to it

How and when sales can apply the value proposition may be unknown to marketing

7. The costliest and the least costly way to convert a target into an appointment:

If marketing and sales are working together and marketing is getting the type of leads that sales need, the costs drop dramatically.

Cold, purchased lists are the most costly way to do sales

Some final thoughts:

It takes time and patience as you start to integrate marketing and sales departments. It is a new concept to most companies so it will take some getting used to on both sides.

Think of your top 3 customers:

What did they buy?

What was the reason they bought from you?

What were the benefits to that particular customer for the reasons they bought from your company?

What are the challenges that you helped that customer solve?

Our next Think Tank call is scheduled for August 5^th at 9:00 am CST and the topic is Branding your company as a Jack of All Trades vs. branding your company on one single focused offering.

Please let us know if you would like to be a part of our next Think Tank call. If you can’t make it then please look for a summary of the call on the BrightBlue Marketing blog.

For further reading:

The Statistics of Lead Nurturing for B2B - by Paul Mosenson
http://www.nusparkmarketing.com/2011/06/the-statistics-of-lead-nurturing-for-b2b

Together – Sales and Marketing - by Mary Sullivan
http://www.kickstartall.com/documents/KS_Articles/Together.htm

Creating a true partnership between marketing and sales
Karen J. Bannan
http://www.btobonline.com/article/20100928/FREE/100929918/creating-a-true-partnership-between-marketing-and-sales

Capitalizing on your Triumphs

2011-06-29T06:52:00.005-05:00

Those of us in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex are just now starting to come down from the excitement surrounding the Dallas Mavericks winning the NBA Championships. However, just a week or two later, the news is now shifting toward a possible NBA lockout for next season. The joy and hype of the win is already dimming quickly as the media turns to the next new big story.

Isn’t this so true in the business world as well? Besides, these big sports teams are actually big business as well. The amount of money made on this championship by a multitude of businesses is well into the millions.. But that money train is running out of track quickly and may have stopped thanks to attention being drawn to this breaking news story.

What does this have to with you and your business? When you hit a high, make sure you give the train plenty of track! Many businesses have huge gains during a quarter that they have a conference, large event or something newsworthy that brings them an extra boost in customers.

Let’s say some part of your business hits a sudden surge – like sales of Mavericks gear, a certain software package that gets a big push from a high profiles client, etc. As exciting as that rush may be, you have to be careful to not just ride the wave – have a plan for the end of the wave too.

Promote another product or service to those that are coming to you for the “surge” product or service
Market an ongoing maintenance package to go with the “surge” product or service
Market some other item that compliments the “surge” product
Create a team to follow up quickly and continue to follow up on an ongoing basis with the new clients you obtained through the “surge” product
Create a new marketing campaign that launches off the “surge” product

Having a product or service take off unexpectedly (or even if it is planned) and having a huge surge in sales for a period of time because of it is a wonderful thing – enjoy it! However, just make sure that you don’t sit back and let the momentum that item created die out. Capture it, spin it and use it to create a long term boost to your sales!

Is your head in "The Cloud"?

2011-06-20T11:06:00.016-05:00

This blog was written for BrightBlue Marketing by: Bob Foster. Bob is founder of GlobalNow Inc; a provider of Global Reverse Logistics technicians and software in the US, LATAM and Asia Pacific markets.

I like clouds. I always have. My mother use to always tell me “my head was in the clouds”. I remember fondly those moments as a kid on a lazy summer afternoon lying on the cool grass and gazing up into the sky, imagining different characters created from the cloud formations…..dogs, cats, my wacky aunt with the crooked nose, etc.

Perhaps that is why I like the technology transformation to “the cloud”. With Steve Jobs announcing earlier this month Apple’s iCloud service; there seems no stopping this movement to using the cloud for both consumer and business needs. I just finished attending an informative Webinar from CRN on cloud computing (and Google cloud strategy), which pointed out that the Cloud market will hit $240 billion in 2020 (Forrester) and Cloud computing services is the top CIO priority in 2011 (Gartner).

Whether we are buyers or providers of technology (many of us are both), cloud based software and services transform the way we work, conduct business and in some cases make money. For instance, as part of our International fixed asset service, we uses cloud based portals to manage our technicians across the US, Latin America and Asia. This portal allows our technicians, managers and clients to rapidly communicate requirements and issues from anywhere in the world, using any device connected to the internet. This is critical, when real time communication among multiple stakeholders is critical to project success. As a provider, we offer cloud based software portals to mange reverse logistics. Although this market’s understanding of the benefits of cloud based solutions, I believe we need to continue to refine our selling proposition to reflect the harmony between cloud driven benefits and the core business benefits.

If you are a technology provider, how do you incorporate the cloud trend into your own offering? How do you market effectively? Below is some of my thoughts plus some insight from our partner BrightBlue Marketing:

Realize that offering Cloud Services is a service opportunity, not a product opportunity

Be specific with the cloud benefits to the client; that fits the common client issues faced by the client (such as my above example, the need for real time and documented communication)

Clarify as needed for the market the nuances/differences within cloud solutions, such as just hosted applications vs. shared applications; and the possible related limitations

Remember to emphasize the fundamental benefits of the applications/technology – such as reduced cost, improved customer service, rapid market penetration, etc. Thorough Knowledge of your customer’s specific business issues will become even more important as you offer cloud services.

And if you are a potential buyer of cloud based business technology, and you are not using SAAS or other cloud based solutions, then START. Understand the benefits by using a common cloud application (such as Google docs) and their limitations.

Assess your other core business applications (such as asset management, ordering, etc. ) and determine what gains you may realize, such as reduced cost, richer functionality, more satisfied customers.

Understand the possible trade off if you lose flexibility to completely customize if it’s a SAAS solution.

Cut through both the marketing hype and unwarranted fear mongers. Listen to trusted resources. Do your homework and go to a trusted colleague for insight.

Ensure your cloud solution adequately ALIGNS with your business requirement. For instance, if you need tremendous flexibility to manage and highly evolving sales process, maybe an in house CRM solution beats a more rigid cloud based solution.

Being a fan of clouds all my life, I’m looking forward to the tools and solutions that we bring to our clients as well as those we use from third party partners. But, I think there is no substitute for the Cloud experience of my childhood….I just hope the neighbors don’t panic when they see me laying on the grass in my backyard one summer evening - gazing into the cloudy sky.

Enjoy your own cloud experiences,

Bob

Bob Foster is founder of GlobalNow Inc; a provider of Global Reverse Logistics technicians and software in the US, LATAM and Asia Pacific markets. GlobalNow also owns Business Class Software Solutions, a separate offering that introduces cloud based applications to the business community.

Stay on your Own Bandwagon: Maintaining control over your online marketing presence

2011-06-13T14:14:00.004-05:00

This blog is brought to you by BrightBlue Marketing team member, Anne Saulnier.

As a business owner or marketing professional, it's easy to get caught up in the latest social media trend, but it's important to focus more on your message and your overall strategy than the tools you use to deliver it.

This article will provide tips for using the latest marketing tools to drive targeted traffic back to your content in a format that you can track and control. Using this simple strategy, you can easily change and expand upon the tools you use to connect with your community without sacrificing the content you've worked so hard to create.

Here are three tips for staying on your own bandwagon:

Connect with people in social media settings that are already comfortable to them
Create a centralized blog on your own website
Use multiple Marketing channels to drive traffic to your content

It is essential to branch out and connect with your community in environments that they feel comfortable with, but social media outlets like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter do not need your help in driving additional traffic to their sites. If Facebook or LinkedIn ever follow in the footsteps of social networking sites like MySpace, you want to ensure that your overall Marketing communications do not suffer because all of your content is housed on a third-party site. By taking simple steps to maintain control over your materials, you can easily keep a diverse set of tools in your Marketing tool belt without fostering dependence on any one site.

Creating a blog on your own website is an excellent opportunity to centralize your content. Because a blog can support several multimedia formats, including embedded video, audio, images, and links, it's a logical headquarters for your subject matter expertise. It's also a great way to make sure your website remains dynamic by populating it with fresh content that provides value to your community. Opening up each post for comments also provides an additional avenue for starting conversations with your customers, prospects, and partners.

As an example, if you participate in online discussions or "Answers" on LinkedIn, you can post a summary of your thoughts in the thread and then link back to a relevant blog post that contains a more in-depth response.

This accomplishes a few things:

You connect with community members in an environment that is comfortable to them
You build credibility by openly sharing your subject matter expertise and by participating in the conversation
You drive additional traffic back to your own website if you've presented relevant, quality information that is of interest to the community
You create timely, dynamic content for your website for additional users to see even if they aren't connected with you on LinkedIn
You maintain an accessible archive of the content that will survive even if the third-party website does not

Happy blogging!

- Anne Saulnier

Ways to establish a following for your company using all Marketing and PR tools at your disposal

2011-06-06T11:57:00.010-05:00

The Marketing Think Tank call is hosted each month by BrightBlue Marketing and Big Noise Communications. The call was facilitated this month by Andrea Lamarsaude of BrightBlue.

The following are the topics we discussed:

1. Should you focus on one social media tool or should you try and do it all?

· You should really stay somewhere in the middle.

· Have a balance (especially if you are just starting)

· Found out which tools your audience is listening to more than others.

· Don’t try to do everything because you don’t want to dilute your message too much over too many places

2. How do you narrow down where you want your following to come from?

· Track your followers with reporting tools and you can see who has signed up for what format

· Service for good reports, but pricey: radient6

· Service for free: Google Analytics has some effective tools

· Hootsuite Pro is good for a nominal fee

· Search www.twitter.com for key words in your industry and see who is talking and active in your industry

· Search to find news that is relevant to your industry and see who is already out there writing and producing content that is getting the followers to engage in your industry

3. Once you have your following, how do you maintain it?

· You have to engage your followers

· Content has to be thought provoking and relevant to get them to engage with it

· Interact with your followers and start a dialogue

· Maintain that dialogue

· Have fun contests or polls to keep their interest

· Ask questions of your followers

· Be generous with them (in content/offers/tips) and your followers will be generous to you

4. What are the best ways to grow your Social Media audience?

· Find a way to let people know you have these avenues of communication

· Tweet about events you are attending that your followers are also attending

· Add your social media links in your signature block on all email correspondence

· Have a call to action saying “have you connected with me on LinkedIn, etc.”

· Quality is as important as quantity in followers – keep your target audience in mind

5. Can you obtain a following without a lot of budget?

· Social Media is free, but it does take time

· Focus your time by making your content very relevant to your audience

· You can set up a group of messages on something like HootSuite and schedule them to go out at regular intervals

· Focus on higher traffic times and/or days on the various social media outlets – Wednesdays are very high traffic times for Facebook and Twitter

· Comment on the social media outlets of others (clients, potential clients, others in your industry) so they see and hear you and have a reason to follow you as well

6. What are some ways to use PR to establish a following?

· Use social media to let people know about an interview you are involved in or a presentation you will be giving

· Let them know when and where they can see and hear you

· Get involved in a community effort (Race for the Cure, Red Cross, planting trees) and encourage your followers to be involved with you

7. What about more traditional marketing tools?

You will never eliminate the need for traditional marketing, but you need to blend traditional marketing channels with social media channels.

8. Are there ways to fuse traditional and social media marketing to establish your following?

· Educate your followers and point them to follow you in other media areas

· Give surveys, polls, point them to a web landing page for special online events, etc.

· Make them feel like you are talking to just them which you can do more with traditional marketing

· Educate your audience on how to use social media so they first have the ability to follow you

· Many of those in your audience may not know how to get involved with social media; however, they are afraid to admit it

Further Reading:

Which Social Media Channels Should Your Business use? http://www.phillymarketinglabs.com/2011/05/05/which-social-media-channels-should-your-business-use/

B2B Tech Marketing and Social Media - Which Social Media Channels Reach Tech Buyers
http://www.idgknowledgehub.com/docs/b2b%20social.pdf

Do You Still Need Traditional Media for PR?
http://prinyourpajamas.com/traditional-media-for-pr/

Incorporating Social Media Into Traditional Marketing Campaigns http://www.socialmediamarketingexpert.net/2011/05/social-media-traditional-marketing-campaigns/

Does Social Media Mean that Traditional Marketing is Obsolete? http://www.philsimonsystems.com/blog/social-media/is-traditional-marketing-obsolete/

How Social Media and Email Marketing Can Work Together?
http://www.inboundnow.tv/how-social-media-email-marketing-work-together/

The Facebook Marketing Toolbox: 100 Tools and Tips to Tap the Facebook Customer Base
By Inside CRM Editors
http://www.focus.com/fyi/marketing/facebook-marketing-toolbox-100-tools-and-tips-tap-facebook/

What Does PR Look Like in 2011?
http://blog.marketingmatters.net/2011/01/28/what-does-pr-look-like-in-2011/

Real-Time Marketing and PR: How to Instantly Engage Your Market, Connect with Customers, and Create Products that Grow Your Business Now?
http://theentrepreneursmanual.com/blog/2011/05/07/real-time-marketing-and-pr-how-to-instantly-engage-your-market-connect-with-customers-and-create-products-that-grow-your-business-now/

How to Make Your PR & Marketing Believable
http://mashable.com/2011/05/13/likeonomics-rohit-bhargava/

In the Wake of Tragedy….

2011-06-02T12:44:00.009-05:00

Helplessness. That is the overwhelming feeling that I have had watching the news stories in the last few weeks. As the weather has turned deadly across our nation many of us are wondering what can we do and how can we help. As a company this is a question you should be asking as well.

What can you do as a company?

Here are some ideas to get you started in thinking how your company can help:

Do we have an office nearby?

If so, send some people as volunteers to help with clean up, searching, caring for those in shelters, etc.

If not, have a blood drive at your office designated for the victims of the storms.

If you have an empty office or warehouse space then offer it to the Red Cross or other organization for storage, office space for their workers, or a place for sheltering victims.

Do we have some financial resources we can spare?

Send money to the Red Cross to help them with everything associated with these tragic storms.

Are you a small company with little man power and/or financial resources?

Set up a blood drive for the community to participate in.

Set up a fundraiser of some sort to raise money for the victims of the storms or one of the organizations that are helping them.

Does all of this sounds like it takes to much time?

Then how about launching a campaign where a certain percentage of your sales for a given period of time will go to the storm victims or an organization that will help them.

How much you do is not really the point, it is just that you do SOMETHING.

Finally, I would like to make one more point:

Is this good PR for your company?

Yes, however, this should not be your motivation for helping your community when it is in need. It is easy to see through wrong motives and that is never good for any person or company.

Do Something, but do it Sincerely!

Here are some helpful links:

http://www.redcross.org/

http://www.carterbloodcare.org/

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/articles/responding_in_missouri

http://www.directrelief.org/EmergencyResponse/2011/SevereWeatherSoutheastUS.aspx?gclid=CMz35KfOl6kCFQla7AodyUQHwA

Do you struggle with the sales and marketing relationship?

2011-05-17T10:18:00.010-05:00

This blog is brought to you by one of the members of the BrightBlue Marketing team: Candace Miller.

How many of you struggle with the sales and marketing relationship?
Is there a disconnect between the two at your organization?

Please share with us your insight into where you see a gap between marketing and sales. We’ve heard and observed complaints in this area so many times that we’ve teamed up with two sales experts to deliver a web seminar called:

“Bridging the Gap between Sales and Marketing: How Better Cooperation Fills the Pipeline”

You can join us at this valuable event where not only do we talk about real life scenarios, but have applied calculations and statistics as to how the sales process improves with a collaborative effort between sales and marketing. Read on for more about the seminar and how to sign up...

You are invited to attend this powerful web seminar... Bridging the Gap between Sales and Marketing: How Better Cooperation Fills the Pipeline More Effectively and Efficiently

Come join BrightBlue Marketing along with the biggest experts in appointment setting and cold calling, Caponi Performance Group and Contact Science. Together we offer an incredible process to fill the pipeline. Read on to learn more about our event:

Most sales managers tell us that their biggest barrier to success is their inability to get enough Initial Appointments to begin the selling process.

Most marketing managers tell us that they supply plenty of targets for sales to call on yet sales do not pursue them sufficiently, or provide adequate feedback.

Why the disconnect? What can we do to bridge the gap and provide what both teams want: a robust pipeline of highly qualified prospects?

After you attend this FREE Webinar, you’ll understand how a more coordinated effort between Marketing and Sales dramatically, and quantitatively, increases the flow of prospects into the Pipeline.

You will also realize how to apply these simple key areas to achieve a more effective and efficient pipeline in your organization:

1. Five simple steps for Marketing and Sales to take together to improve performance at filling the Pipeline.
2. The quantitative impact of each of the five key steps.
3. Why Sales will not only adopt the program, but can easily provide Marketing with feedback on their activity.

This Webinar is for business owners, marketing executives and sales managers.

Register now https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/657754299.

Be sure to sign up now as space is limited.

May 26th at 12:00pm Central, 1pm Eastern, 10am Pacific

The webinar is hosted by a cooperative effort between sales and marketing: Barry Caponi with Caponi Performance Group, Bob Howard with Contact Science (affiliates of ColdCalling101) and Candace Lopez Miller with BrightBlue Marketing.

Winning…Lessons from Entrepreneurial Winners

2011-05-13T14:06:00.013-05:00

This blog is brought to you by BrightBlue Marketing team member: Candace Lopez Miller

The tips below are from hard working companies that have moved up the ranks after starting from scratch. They are the true winners.

Many would agree that Austin, Texas is a place overflowing with non-judgmental entrepreneurial support. Living in Austin now, I recently attended one of many local entrepreneurial competitions to hear the latest and greatest ideas coming from some of the up and coming companies. The event was the 2011 Global Venture Labs Investment Competition (a part of The University of Texas at Austin). I attended both the competition sessions and sessions where previous years’ winners shared best practices on how to make a business succeed.

I’d like to share with you a few of the compelling tips and insights provided by the presenting CEOs of successful start-ups:

Start with your network: Seek out additional networking opportunities with the network you already have. Don’t just stop after connecting on LinkedIn, instead continue to build the relationships through multiple phone calls, repeat visits and ongoing emails.

Cause for failure? Insufficient research and making assumptions. Don’t assume – know. Don’t just know – know why.

Ask: “What can I learn from my competitors?” Improve on what they offer or in some cases, simplify what they offer.

Audience vs. Traffic:

Audience = stays with you, you have their emails
Traffic = is there one day, but gone the next

**In order to realize success, you must hang in there long enough and stick to your plan. Don’t give up too early!**

Remember:

Obstacles are barriers to overcome and overcoming obstacles is what will get you ahead of your competitors.

Do you have any winning business tips you’d like to share with us? We’d love to hear from you!

This post written by: Candace Lopez Miller

Once upon a time there was a great marketing storyteller!

2011-04-28T07:39:00.008-05:00

This blog is brought to you by BrightBlue Marketing team member: Andrea Lamarsaude.

As a child hearing the words, “Once upon a time” were music to my ears as it meant it was storytelling time, my favorite time of all! It didn't matter if someone was reading to me or I was reading to myself, what mattered was the story! Would it be about some distant land I had never been to before? What would the hero or heroine be up against? Would someone need rescuing? Was a dragon involved? How about time travel? The more excitement there was the better! I loved, and still do, a good page-turner!

Good story telling is an art.

A wonderful example is artist Aaron Koblin who has developed software that tells stories and creates art by sifting through online data (http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/04/21/koblin.data.art/index.html?hpt=C2). One of his latest endeavors is a "global collaborative art project.” Together with Chris Milk they created a commemorative music video story of Johnny Cash, each of the 1,370 frames in the video was created by a different person.

In much the same way a marketer can take all the “data” or information available about a company and its products and services and develop a strong and compelling story that makes the reader want to truly understand what they offer and how it can benefit them. So much more exciting than just a cut and dry listing of their products features and benefits and definitely a magnet for potential clients and the press!

Mastering the art of good story telling is an absolutely necessary skill to have when it comes to marketing. The difference between a good marketer and a great one is their ability to craft and tell their client’s story in a compelling and page turning way. Knowing how to tell someone who you are, and what you can offer him or her that no one else can is one of the key elements to successful marketing.

Lisa Barone, Co-Founder and Chief Branding Officer at Outspoken Media says it best, “Marketing is storytelling. It’s you talking directly to your customers and telling them who you are, why you’re better and what you believe so that they remember you and feel connected to you. It’s you making them associate something with your company.”

Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger and CEO of Copyblogger Media says, “Everything you do to market your business is another paragraph, page, or chapter in the story people hear from you. And the story people hear is the one they act (or don’t act) on, and repeat (or don’t repeat) to others.”

Brian goes on to say, “…purposeful storytelling is the mark of the great novelist, screenwriter, and playwright, and purposeful marketing stories are a sure sign of a great content marketer.”

We’d like to hear from you! Tell us about the “page turning” marketing stories you have created for your business and your clients.

-Andrea Lamarsaude Marketing Manager, BrightBlue Marketing

Links to further reading:

· SMB Marketing Is About Telling Your Story - Lisa Barone, Co-Founder and Chief Branding Officer at Outspoken Media
http://smallbiztrends.com/2009/05/smb-marketing-telling-your-story.html

· How to Craft a Marketing Story that  People Embrace and Share - Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger and CEO of Copyblogger Media
http://www.copyblogger.com/remarkable-marketing-story/

Listen up! Is your company a best kept secret?

2011-04-25T06:55:00.004-05:00

Why does your company spend money on marketing? Perhaps to get the attention of future customers and keep them away from your competition? Many companies try to do this by lowering prices to be competitive, but having a lower price doesn’t always attract new customers. You have to make your company and your product stand out.

What is something your company does that your competition doesn’t? Think about those little extras that you do for your customers and clients that your competition either doesn’t do or doesn’t advertise that they do. Once you get your special differentiator noticed, it will be very difficult for your competition to use that same angle.

This is known as the Unique Selling Proposition (USP). If you don’t know what your USP is then think about what your clients or customers say they really like about you or just ask them. Customers like to know that you care what they think and when asked, they will tell you. It may be the fact that your sales team sends a hand written thank you note after a first or large order, or maybe they like the short lead time you provide for delivery of your product or service, or specifics on how you go above and beyond for your clients.

Once you have your USP figured out then you need to get it out there!

Create a tag line and new messaging that incorporates your USP. Start a campaign that gets this new message out to reach your target audience via emails, blogs, direct mail postcards, etc.

A great tool to get your message out is Virtual Marketing Outreach. It can help save you an incredible amount of time by having the basic content for everything already written for you and all you have to do is adjust and personalize it to fit your company.

It is time for you to make sure your company is not the best kept secret. Find your USP and shout it to the world!

Just do something…

2011-04-18T14:35:00.009-05:00

As I talk to people in business trying to find their way through the social media maze of this new marketing era, the thing I hear the most is, “It is overwhelming” or “I don’t know where to even start”. Well, let me help – just start somewhere and just do something!

Not very helpful is it? But in theory it really is. There are a lot of new options these days out there for marketing with the rise of social media including: Facebook, Twitter, blogging, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc., etc. The list seems to go on and on and if you are just jumping into the social media pool it can feel like you are sinking in the deep end. Well, I am going to throw you a floaty!

Grab the floaty, climb on out of the deep end, and walk to the other end of the pool and let’s take the steps in one at a time. Step one: Pick 1 thing in the world of social media to start with. For some of you this step may be overwhelming, but let’s make it fun. Write down all the options (or at least the options you know about now), put them in a bowl and just pull one out and that will be the one you start with. Or, look at the various options and pick the one that seems the most interesting, or fun, to you. Yes, I said “fun”! Marketing through social media really can be fun – I swear!

Do you like to write? Set up a blog (it is much easier than you think), and write about what interests you. A blog doesn’t need to be a sales pitch (and actually shouldn’t be) or an educational forum (unless that is what trips your trigger). Just write about what is happening in your world with your business. My personal “Biggest Blogging Tip”: just be yourself. You aren’t being graded by your English professor, you are being graded by the general public that wants your blog to be interesting to read, not a literary masterpiece.

Do you like to talk or play with the video camera? Set up a YouTube account (again, much easier than you think), and start being the “roving reporter” around the office. Interview people on what they are working on that week, or you can talk about something exciting you have going on or a new product you are launching.

Do you only have short bursts of time or can’t think of more than 1 sentence to write at a time? Twitter is for you! Tweets are just little 140 character tidbits of what is going on with your company that you put out there from time to time with an optional link to a website for more information.

Do you want to build a more social relationship with your customers, clients, partners, etc.? Facebook is for you. You basically have an ongoing, 2-way conversation with all those in your Facebook network.

Do you like the 2-way conversation but want to stay more professional than social? Go with LinkedIn.

There are many other options, but these are the big ones out there at the moment and don’t let the options overwhelm you. Just do something!

Pick one that sounds interesting, take 30 minutes (or less in most cases) to set up your account at whichever method you choose, then send something out to say hello to the world and let your employees, customers, potential customer, etc. know how to find you as you embark on your new adventure.

The most important thing to remember is to not try to jump into the deep end all at once. Start by getting your feet wet over in the shallow end by the steps. Once you get going with your first social media outlet and you feel comfortable with it, and then choose your next adventure. Before long you will be jumping off the high dive into the deep end without hesitation!

If you are new to social media – let us know which one you have chosen to start with and let us follow your progress!

For further reading here are some links to some great info on your preferred social media channel choice:

Blogs - http://blogbasics.com/what-is-a-blog

Facebook - http://mashable.com/guidebook/facebook/

LinkedIn - http://learn.linkedin.com/what-is-linkedin/

Twitter - http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/

YouTube - http://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-business-2010-2#

Why am I not doing this yet?

2011-04-06T15:22:00.008-05:00

This blog is brought to you by a partner of BrightBlue Marketing, Silvana Rosero, Principal and co-owner of Small Pond Video Productions. Learn more about Silvana and her company at: www.smallpondvideo.com.

Historically, video has been used by businesses and organizations to implement training programs, as well as creating sales and marketing tools. Video is still used for such purposes. The only difference now is that, with the technology innovation, the possibilities to reach an audience are almost infinite, making video an even more powerful tool.

The popularization of smart phones, tablets, better computers and the availability of faster telecommunications as well as new avenues of communication - such as social media sites - have created a new culture of communicating. People now want to learn about new things through the Internet, and they also want to “share” their experiences with huge audiences (their online friends and connections) instantly.

It has been said by some experts that the U.S. online audience is expected to grow to 190 million people by 1012. Additionally, 88% of the entire online audience is actively seeking out multimedia messaging in all forms…and I am one of them.

Not very long ago, I had the need to buy software to create storyboards for our video projects. So I started to research on the Internet for available options. There were so many websites, but just one of them had videos with demos of how good and easy the product is to use. Actually, many of the other software companies offered a free demo for download while this company did not. But after watching the video demos, the testimonials and the videos of the people who created the software, I was convinced and ready to buy the product. And when I purchased the software, it was exactly what I expected to be.

Imagine having the ability of starting a client relationship even before meeting the client. By the time the client finds you, he needs a reason to believe your company will fulfill his/her expectations. Video allows the client to find out more about your products and the REAL people who runs the company. Compare it to a company who just offers a website with lots of text and a few pictures, or maybe a brochure. Not very engaging, is it? With video you have the ability to convey more information in less time. People will also retain more information just because more senses are involved.

And here is more good news: a well-constructed video creates a bond with the viewing audience. A happy and impressed customer will volunteer to become your sales agent – for FREE. Apple Computer is the perfect example of this. Apple users love the product and cannot wait for their videos showing the new product features to be released. Even better, Apple users cannot wait to share these videos with potential new Apple customers.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. For example, a properly tagged video can generate lots of traffic to your website, which in turn will be picked up by the search engines and give you a better ranking every time someone does a search for your product. You can also re-purpose your video for multiple uses. A video presentation that you created for a conference, can easily be added to your website, shared on all of your social media sites, added to an e-mail campaign and uploaded to YouTube. The result is that you are reaching a much larger audience.

There are so many potential positive effects of using video in your business that you should be asking yourself: why am I not doing this yet?

-Silvana Rosero is a Principal and co-owner of Small Pond Video Productions, a full video production house based in Plano, Texas.