Does Your Marketing Firm Really Provide PR?

Posted on November 17, 2010 by Cindy Ronzoni

Social Spread Media, Cindy Ronzoni PR Veteran, 310-880-1961

PR Departments Should Have Media Contacts/Relationships

In this day and age, the lines between marketing, social media and public relations are all converging and blurring. Many firms say that they do all three, but do they?

This post will help you determine if the firm you have hired to handle your PR can execute on your goals.

The idea of this post came when I was surprised to learn that a well-known marketing guru said that his company also handles PR. This executive is an amazing marketer and new media influencer, but I would have never thought that I could hire his company for PR. And although, he is extremely talented and a thought leader, I think that he and I have a different public relations definitions.

Wikipedia defines it as such: Public relations (PR) is a field concerned with maintaining public image for businesses, non-profit organizations or high-profile people, such as celebrities and politicians.

Why Are You Hiring a PR Company in the First Place?

So the question that you need to ask yourself first is this: What are your reasons for hiring a PR company?

Are you hiring a firm to:

A-Handle a crisis that is being played out in the media or has the potential to become public?
B-Build your community base on the Internet
C-Write press materials and/or media kit
D-Pitch your company to the media
E-Organize media events, press conferences, trade shows
F-Compose executive speeches and talking points
G-Create messaging
H-Develop media strategies across platforms
I-Design advertising and handle media buys
J-Build the companies image
K-Pitch executives for speaking engagements/celebrities for red-carpets and award shows
L-Corporate Blogs

Believe it or not, but how you answer those questions above will help you determine if your marketing firm really can handle PR functions.

Public Relations Defined

As a 20-plus year public relations veteran, my definition of publicity is the following: a PR firm not only creates and maintains public images, but also works with the media. My definition is that a PR company should be able to pitch your product and get it placed in the press. A PR company also can promote your company through social media.

I am sure some marketing agencies believe that they provide PR services because they create media strategies, however, they do not pitch the media. Yes, strategies are a function of PR, but make sure if you want a company to pitch media, they have media contacts.

A Party Works Best when Marketing and PR Unite

To help you decide what areas a PR company and/or marketing firm can handle – please see the list below. Per the list, I’ve noted which items are best handled by either a PR or marketing firm or both.

A-Handle a crisis that is being played out in the media or has the potential to become public? (PR)
B-Build your community base on the Internet (Both)
C-Write press materials and/or media kit (PR)
D-Pitch your company to the media (PR)
E-Organize media events, press conferences, trade shows (PR and/or Marketing – they work well in tandem)
F-Compose executive speeches and talking points (PR)
G-Create messaging (Both)
H-Develop media strategies across platforms (Both)
I-Design advertising and handle media buys (Marketing)
J-Build the companies image (Both)
K-Pitch executives for speaking engagements/celebrities for red-carpets and award shows (PR)
L-Corporate Blogs (Both)

In summary, if you want media coverage, make sure the firm you are hiring has solid press contacts and has examples to show you.

Do you have any PR questions? Please comment below.

Cindy

Email Etiquette – No Longtail Headers

Posted on November 12, 2010 by Cindy Ronzoni

A simple cut is a good email manner.

I have to admit that I do have a few pet peeves, especially around social media practices. And this week, I was reminded of two such “peeves” in one email. I know that the person who sent me this particular missive didn’t mean anything more than true sincerity. They had no idea that what they were doing was a bad manner.

So what got my ire up?

The Longtail Header Effect

Do you ever receive email chains from friends who do not cut out the headers of others who have previously sent it to them. In this particular email message, which was about privacy issues regarding the Internet, it was forwarded at least eight other times. How did I know it was forwarded by eight people. I knew this because all eight of those folks did not delete the headers. This practice of forwarding chain messages without cutting out previous (To and From and cc’s) is nothing short of poor communication practices. In short, it’s poor etiquette.

I guess the best way to describe why it’s not the best practice is by this example. It’s like someone handing you a wonderful gift and they’ve wrapped it in used, torn wrapping paper. The present is thoughtful, but the presentation lessens its value. It is the same with those darn long email headers. The message you want to convey is a lovely thought, but it often is not received if it takes excessive scrolling to get to the point.

Email etiquette, social media, public relations, PR

Make sure your emails are welcomed by the receiver

How to Properly Forward Email Messages

If you receive an email message that you would like to forward to some of your favorite friends, here’s how to properly send it to ensure that the recepient will most likely open the thought.

It really is just as simple as “cut and paste.” If you can take the time to forward it, then you can expend a few minutes of time to delete the people who previously sent it to you.

Here’s the steps to take.

Open the email you would like to forward to your friends.
Click “forward.”
In the body of the email, start highlighting the headers of all those who before you received the message. As you scroll down the page keep highlighting until the start of the message.
When the area you want to remove is all highlighted, click “cut” or delete.
Then add in a personal message before the message.
Add in the names of the people you want to send it to. If it is to a good number of your friends, another common courtesy is to add those names in the “blind copy” (bcc) line.
Hit send.

You’ve now sent a email using proper etiquette. Believe me when I say this – your friends will appreciate your new practice as you help them get right to the point.

Next Peeve to Explore – Spreading Internet Fear

As mentioned, I had noted that one particular email contained two of my pet peeves. In addition to the longtail header issue, it also presented another area that raises the hair on the back of my neck – Internet fear. I’ll cover that in my next post.

Until then…continue to delete those email headers.

Cindy

The Importance of Controlling PR Messages

Posted on November 5, 2010 by Cindy Ronzoni

When Changes are Made, Is Everyone Aware that Needs to be Aware?

How many people at your company are allowed to directly communicate with the media and customers? For some corporations that possess customer call centers the numbers can be in the hundreds. And perhaps for you, the answer is just one. You’re the chief cook and bottle washer – and that’s OK — for this post today addresses the need for clear communication no matter the size of the company.

Communication Messages Need to Be Planned Ahead

With that, I would like to address the need for every sized company to have a six-weeks communication plan in conjunction with your media strategy.

What’s a communication plan? A communication plan is document that spells out what messages you want to promote for the next six-week period. For instance, in the case of timeliness, the next six weeks in real-time includes Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas events. Therefore, a company that provides services should plot out in advance what discounts, promotions, special offers and other such things are to be conveyed to the customers via advertising, PR and/or social media during that period. This plan helps your company stay on track or stay on message.

As an example, if you offer spa treatments as your service, perhaps on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) you could offer a 25% discount on foot massages for weary shoppers. Or on the day before Thanksgiving, you could offer $10 off on a pedicure, so your customer’s hands look wonderful as they stuff the turkey!

These messages are important to your business and as such, should be a part of your marketing and/or business plans.

Now the next question is, how do you convey these messages to those who interact with your customers? Is every layer aware of your objectives so that they can clearly communicate the message?

Don’t Forget the Layering Effect of Messages

When you are the decision maker it’s very easy to switch gears and make changes without thinking about how it effects the rest of the company. What may seem like a good idea to you, make not to your head of marketing. The head of marketing has a very involved media plan that she’s implementing that is in motion. One change could absolutely topple a beautiful, synergistic launch of a product.

Per the diagram below, I’ve outlined how many layers go into communication departments. In most companies, PR and/or Corporate Communication departments have substantially less staff than does marketing. And when dealing with social media, depending on which department is responsible for its duties, either PR or Marketing, it’s imperative that a plan is in operation that can quickly filter down any changes in messages to all involved in interacting with the public. One bad message can shoot down the best intention of efforts. Therefore, it is crucial that the persons involved with implementing the messages are always kept informed.

Stay on Message - PR Tips, Cindyronzoni.com, social media

It's Important to Remember to Alert Everyone Involved of Changes in the Message

Stay on Script

On movie and television sets, there is a person who’s main responsibility is congruency. This person makes sure that the set is the same, the clothes, the hair, the lighting, etc. matches from take to take. For instance, if there’s an apple in the scene and at the end of the scene it has two bites out of it…the head of congruency makes sure a fresh apple is in this particular scene for every take and that at the end two bites are taken out. A script supervisor does the same. That person makes sure that the script is followed word-by-word and that any changes in it are recorded thusly.

And that’s the new job you must do if you are engaging with customers over such things as Facebook. You must make sure that the staff responsible for answering comments on Facebook is aware of your script. They must know that your $10 discount on pedicures is only for one day only and not offer it the entire weekend. You are in charge of congruency and the script up keep. You can do it for the only way to be a great communicator is to communicate.

I’d love your thoughts on this topic. I do plan to address the need for a communication plan tomorrow when I speak on a panel at ProductCampSoCal. The panel is called Social Marketing Panel: The Social Spectrum- Social Strategies for Both Large and Personal Brands and I be on the panel with some of the industry’s best brand practitioners, including Scott Schang of Broadview Mortgage; Stacey Harmon of Harmon Enterprises, Kirsten Wright of Wright Creativity and moderator Mel Alcaro, author of The Social Media Marketing Essentials Guide For Small Business Professionals.

PR AND SOCIAL MEDIA GO HAND IN HAND

Posted on October 31, 2010 by Cindy Ronzoni

Social Media Conferences Provide Valuable Education

I’ve been asked to join a panel on Saturday at ProductCampSoCal addressing this particular topic: Social Marketing Panel: The Social Spectrum- Social Strategies for Both Large and Personal Brands. I am joined on this panel with some of the industry’s best brand practitioners, including Scott Schang of Broadview Mortgage; Stacey Harmon of Harmon Enterprises, Kirsten Wright of Wright Creativity and moderator Mel Alcaro, author of The Social Media Marketing Essentials Guide For Small Business Professionals.

In preparation for this panel, we gathered together last weekend to talk about what we wanted to address and as such I wanted to give you all a little precursor to what I would like to convey in the hour discussion. I will be speaking from the point of view that public relations is an integral part in any branding process. That’s the hat I’ll have on Saturday and it’s one I’m comfortable wearing. But, from what I experienced from our pre-meeting is that this is going to be an information-filled panel chock full of valuable take-aways. It will be a panel not to miss.

Did you know that if you participate in social media, then you are also doing the function of PR?

Yep, that’s absolutely true. By putting yourself or your company out there, exposing it to the public (consumers) and allowing them to comment back…you have now opened yourself to handle customer service and public relations. Whereas, a few years ago, if a company wanted to advertise say either on radio or TV, an ad would run and it would be static. The call-to-action was simply buy the product, not comment on its performance. With social media, you are now giving your customers a pipeline to express their views and opinions about your efforts. And when social media is done right and people become engaged that’s when you need to ask yourself if you are ready to hear what they have to say, even when it isn’t nice or sometimes untrue. However, once a comment appears that is negative against your company, that’s when you need to put on your PR hat and ask yourself questions such as:

How are you going to handle the complaint if its legitimate?
Will you take the comment offline?
Will you remove it completely?
What will you do if it becomes viral?

Social Media Isn’t for Everyone

I believe a company, nor matter the size, needs to take a hard look at whether or not it has the bandwidth to take on social media. Social media isn’t just having a Facebook page and updating it occasionally. To do it well, a strategy must be made, social policies need to be thought out (i.e., how you will handle off topic comments, trolls and negativity) and a staff must be in place to “listen” to what others are saying about your company online. It’s not something you simply can assign an “intern” to handle. It must be supervised by an employee who understands your product and one who understands messaging.

The Internet is Chock Full of Helpful PR and Social Media tips

If you are not prepared to start interacting with your customers online, then its best not to utilize this communication platform until you are ready. By not entering into social media at the moment, it one of the wisest decisions you can make until you feel confident.

Social media isn’t easy and one that requires a learning curb. However, to help you understand if its for you there are workshops, meetups, clubs and camps like ProductCampSoCal that can help you navigate these waters and often at no cost.

It’s well worth the investment.

If you are attending the conference, be sure to say come and say “hi.”

Socially,

Cindy

RELAX INTO YOUR PR PITCH

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Cindy Ronzoni

Huff believes relaxed teams win - that's true for PR too.

No Job Is Worth Stressing Over

Since the best PR practitioners are those who can land a major media pitch, I thought it was fitting that today’s topic was a result of a Wall St. Journal article I read this morning about the thong-wearing first baseman of the World Series San Francisco Giants Aubrey Huff. The article did get my attention because it was about a thong-wearing MLB player, but the “undies” issue was not what sparked my interest. It was this quote he provided.

Huff said, “I never really heard of an uptight team that wins.”

Huff’s statement is true in so many regards and applicable to many professions.

You can’t argue with the fact that people do their best work when relaxed. I know I do, don’t you?

With that being said, in the public relations field it is extremely valuable when a person is pitching that the pitch should be in a cool, even tone as opposed to a fast, rapid fire, loud breathless ramble. The latter is usually conceived as one of a desperation. And that’s not good for you or the reporter or the client you are representing.

STYLE COUNTS

We’ve all been thrown pitches that we are not familiar with from time to time. This often happens when we’re helping out a co-worker who has a giant list of calls to make, and therefore, we innocently “pitch in.” We have been prepared with a script of what to cover and we make our calls. And usually, on these calls, we may come across as yes “reading a script.” This isn’t good either.

And as I’m writing this I saying to myself that I must remember this tip as well. The best service you can provide your client/company is when you are comfortable with what you’re communicating and can do it in a relaxed manner. Even though you may have over 100 calls to make by noon – each call needs to appear fresh, enthusiastic, unique, interesting, etc. You need to present an up beat tone throughout the entire phone process even when you hear that dreaded beep meaning that it goes to voice mail. If it goes to voice mail, it’s a long shot if it will be get heard – but your chances of having a reporter listen to it greatly increases if you have a vibrant, welcoming pleasant tone.

How do you do in this area? Are you relaxed when you make your best sales? Or do you sometimes let the stresses of your job pressure your performance?

I think Huff’s on to something here. This calm attitude sure worked for his team in the first game against the Texas Rangers. The Giants clobbered them 11-7.

Can you guess which team was more relaxed?

PR TIP – BUSINESS ALIGNMENTS

Posted on October 26, 2010 by Cindy Ronzoni

Are Your Ducks in a Row?

CHOOSING FRIENDS, EMPLOYEES AND PARTNERS CAN BE TRICKY IN BUSINESS

With Halloween almost upon us, I was thinking about one of the trickiest business maneuvers a person can make is navigating the waters of whom should be entrusted as Board members, employees, backers and advisers. Basically, who are you in alignment. In the last week, I’ve seen several examples of potential partnerships that could pose serious crises for companies who were not diligent with their associations.

Why I am making this one of my PR Tips? I am due to the fact that as a corporate communications executive my job is to make sure that the brand of the respective company has integrity at all times. However, I am well aware that problems do occur naturally when you manage a business. For instance, an employee who is terminated can decide to file a lawsuit or someone does write a scathing review that must be defended or a troll harasses your Facebook wall. Occurrences like these are business as usual.

As PR executives, our jobs are to stop potential problems from ever happening.

REAL-LIFE EXPERIENCES

Here are three real examples of potential bad alignments that I heard about recently to help you realize how these issues can seem to be benign on the surface.

CASTING-A promoter created an event where he needed to hire a cast of actors to man kiosks across a major metropolitan city. The cast was charged with demonstrating a product and interacting with the community. One actress who was being considered had recently posed for a publication that featured women undressed. She was proud of that article and posted that information on her Facebook page. Needless to say, she did not get the job because as you know, the brand that she would have represented could never be aligned with that publication even though her involvement may appear to be removed by several layers. The event promoter did a great job of keeping the brand solid and researching the actors.

Sometimes the Money Isn't Worth It

INVESTORS – I recently met a new young entrepreneur who was telling me he has a potential financial backer that he was excited about. He really needed money to ramp up his efforts, however, the financier had a sketchy background that included adult industry involvement. The entrepreneur was building a site that featured fashion. I had to remind him that although the money would be great…he had to weigh whether or not is was worth being aligned with the backer due his background. He had to decide if his consumer base might be offended if they knew this fact about the backer.

ONLINE REPUTATION – I recently heard that a friend’s daughter was not hired for a particular position at a department store due to photos that she posted on Facebook when she was in high school. Again, other instance where something so slight, could pose problems if not today then in the future.

As I learned from Scott Stratten, author of UnMarketing, everything we do is marketing. We are constantly marketing ourselves, no matter what we are saying online or in person. Therefore, filter who you are online and monitor your company’s affiliations. Also, thoroughly suss out your vendors and employees.

And as Chris Brogan, author of Trust Agents, pointed out – Be the best you always.

In summary, any extra research that you invest in will not only keep you away from potential crises, it will help you stay respected in your industry and community as well as among your peers.

I’d love to hear your thoughts?

Mari Smith – A Great Social Media Role Model

Posted on October 24, 2010 by Cindy Ronzoni

Mari Smith is a Premium Brand

There are so many great elements associated with Social Media, but one of the best examples of how wonderful it can be is being in the presence of Mari Smith. I first became aware of Mari Smith through Social Media Examiner when she would supply posts providing practical tips about Facebook. From that, Social Media Examiner featured her on several webinars and and although, we never saw Mari, we heard her. Not only is she beautiful with a great smile, her voice is interesting as it mixes in Canadian and Scottish accents with San Diego California speak.

But, because her branding was so strong and well done, I knew what she looked like and what her personality was through all my interactions with her. I’ve asked her questions on her Facebook wall and she’s helped me immensely. I’ve listened to her webinars and have grown my skills exponentially.

But, I was finally able to see her at the Blogworld Expo a couple weeks ago and once again she was spot on perfect knowing who she is and what her brand is. No wonder they chose her to headline the session “The Brand of You.”

I attended over two dozens sessions at this three-day conference and I must say Mari’s stood out for the following reasons.

1) She was the only speaker who introduced herself to everyone attending her session in the minutes before the presentation began. That was classy. She walked over to each person and introduced herself, asked what our name was, shook our hand and then gave us a “branded pen.”

Mari's Branded Giveaway

2) She conveyed her personality by using her favorite color “turquoise” throughout the session. Now, I will always associate that color with her brand. The pen she handed us was that color and she decorated the dais with a boa that color. She also used turquoise in her presentation and wore a turquoise jacket.

3) She is a great communicator for she comes across, friendly and helpful and makes anyone who asks her a question feel special. Not only is she a great Facebook resource, she communicates in a practical manner and as a result, her information is useful. She is a great teacher.

So, if you are not familiar with Mari, I suggested you become her fan on Facebook and look up her articles on Social Media Examiner. You’ll be much smarter by having her in your life, especially on Facebook.

An Unforgettable Elvis – Cirque du Soleil Homage to a Legion

Posted on October 18, 2010 by Cindy Ronzoni

(Sponsored post: I was given a complimentary ticket to attend Cirque du Soleil’s Viva Elvis at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, NV, in exchange for a review of its show.)

If you have ever attended one of Cirque du Soleil’s amazing performances, you know that you’ll be treated to breath-taking acrobatics, incredible sets and costumes as well as unique story-telling. Those things are this company’s signature.

Recently I attended their newest enterprise, Viva Elvis, at the Aria Resort and Casino, its permanent Vegas theater. It was everything that I would have expected from these award-winning producers, but there was a subtle difference with this particular show. It was in its tone. It was a more relaxed, graceful story that they told – a true testimony to the life of Elvis. Viva Elvis followed Elvis Presley’s life from his early beginnings from going to the Army, becoming a movie star, getting married and being immortalized as an Las Vegas icon. His life was nicely chronicled in a graceful pace that I’m sure was due to the fact that this production was in partnership with Elvis Presley Enterprises and CKX Inc.

Viva Elvis was as Big as Life Just Like the Legend

Don’t get me wrong, the production did include gymnastics of incredible proportions, but it also evoked emotions – I found myself shedding a tear which surprised me. But,that was because you could follow this story. They used actual film clips and home movies to forward the story from personal milestone to milestone.

It was a wonderful musical tribute that utilized some of the Giant’s most memorable tunes. Elvis’ hits were enhanced and modernized in such a way that worked in this lavish production.

I did enjoy the difference in tone and pace of this show. Where I was on high alert and on the edge of my seat as an audience member for Cirque’s MGM performance of KA, this show allowed me to relax into the story and not worry about strange looking characters popping around me chanting things I had no idea about what they were saying. I could understand every word in this production and could easily follow this story for it was based on a real life.

This was One of my Favorite Acts - I could sit and watch them perform all day. I had some favorite acts from this particular show. One is pictured to the left. Apparently, in Elvis’ youth he enjoyed comic books. So to pay tribute to that, the show featured comic books characters like The Flash. These comic book athletes performed an amazing spectacle with trampolines that allowed them to walk up walls. It was absolutely fascinating and never became boring. I could sit there all day and watch them. It was fun, entertaining and highly enjoyable.

I also loved the sets and costumes. One set that I found extremely clever was how they made an American flag out of using long john underwear and white boxer shorts. Nicely done. I also fell in love with a particular polka-dot dress that was worn by women with giant hats that would have been fitting on Audrey Hepburn.

However, it was the wedding act that did bring a tear to my eye. I don’t know if it was the fact that I’m just a softy when it comes to true love, but this scene was so well done. There was a giant wedding cake with a beautiful women in a wedding veil on the top. Her husbands were below her – clad in tuxes skating around as she sang. When the song was over, the grooms pulled out her veil and that became the screen which they projected real film clips from his wedding and other poignant moments from this life with Priscilla. He looked so happy at that particular time. You could tell how much they were in love. And I guess my tear was out of sadness for him. I only wish he could have held on to that love throughout his whole life. The life of a celebrity is at times cursed. I can’t even begin to imagine what his life was a like as a legend. Elvis and Priscilla Shared Happy Times

In summary, be sure to visit Viva Elvis on your next trip to Vegas. Your toes will tap. You face will smile. And you’ll leave with a little keepsake.

Elvis knew how to entertain audiences – as does Cirque du Soleil. The two are a powerful combination.

PR and Social Media are Powerful Together

Posted on October 15, 2010 by Cindy Ronzoni

Actioned Packed Day at Blogworld Expo 2010

I truly witnessed something new in PR at the Blogworld conference. It happened at yesterday’s keynote Blogworld Expo session featuring moderator Brian Solis and Content Producer Mark Burnett, the guy behind such hits as THE APPRENTICE and SURVIVOR.

Mark Burnett Productions is producing a new documentary series for Discovery’s TLC channel focusing on Alaska as seen through the eyes of Sarah Palin called SARAH PALIN’S ALASKA. With that being said, I don’t which came first – Burnett accepting to speak at Blogworld or TLC pitching Burnett to speak. I’m guessing Burnett agreed to speak and TLC found out about it and then took that opportunity to promote the new series at the conference.

Whatever the case, I thought it was brilliant. Excellent work from a cable network’s PR department. Hats off to the executives who engineered this event. It was a spot on tie-in and worked well within the session.

Burnett Stole The Show with Exclusive Footage

Burnett talked about his entire body of work and career and then at the end brought up this new series. Moderator Solis told us that we were going to be given an exclusive. I’m used to this sort of thing since I am in the TV business, but the others thought it was a real cool moment.

The exclusive was seeing the first video from the series. Since Blogworld is streaming its keynotes, they do not want attendees to stream live – for that reason and because it slows down the wi-fi. So it arranged for @stevegarfield to post the first video of the show on his YouTube channel. We were asked to all tweet it.

Here was the tweet – RT @stevegarfield: Sarah Palin’s Alaska on TLC from Mark Burnett http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7xnvXMHxGE #bwe10

My fascination with this story wasn’t the exclusive video, but was the statements Burnett said afterward. He said he didn’t know if he would be able to provide the exclusive for as you know, TV use vs. Internet broadcasts are entirely two different beasts with different rights issues. When he said that I immediately knew that he has been having a legal nightmare for weeks trying to promote the series on YouTube. For you see, the music rights became the issue. It’s extremely difficult to buy the global rights to commercial music. And likewise, I’m sure TLC really wanted to break the video on their air. So I bet there were many lively debates inside TLC.

Stickers a TLC Rep handed out to the audience

Nevertheless, it happened and it was marvelous. Kudos to Burnett and TLC for taking the risk on this endeavor. It’s wonderful that a cable network understood the power of social media and the power of a roomful of bloggers.

Now that’s what I call great PR. Let’s hope more exclusives come to the web.

Relating to Chris Brogan

Posted on October 12, 2010 by Cindy Ronzoni

I was privileged to attend a speaking engagement with Trust Agent’s author and Social Media Marketing Guru Chris Brogan. Chris was in town thanks to Bryan Elliott’s powerful business networking group LinkedOC which organized this event. I became a follower of Chris’ after last year’s Blogworld Expo where he told us to “love” our communities and put them first before our product marketing.

Chris Brogan Reminds Us All That Business is About Relationships

I wondered what Chris’ words would be to us 365 days later and well, he said that the goals now are to make money regarding our efforts. We’ve built our platforms and we are making them engaging so now is time to make money off them. That was his new takeaway on how social media is evolving.

Chris chatted intimately with a group of a few hundred of us at the swanky and trendy Oakley Headquarters. Hats off to Bryan for choosing a unique, hip and memorable venue.

Chris had many powerful things to say, but, here are my top take-aways in no particular order.

CHRIS BROGAN HIGHLIGHTS

1) Don’t make your marketing tricky. Keep it simple and remember you’re in a relationship with your customers.

2) Make your customers feel wanted.

3) We really don’t need jobs, we need work. We know what our jobs are.

4) Every business now is a media business.

5) Re-visit your website with a new set of eyes. Squint at it and see if what stands out. What’s your call to action when squinting?

6) Always talk about your clients, not about you.

7) Be welcoming. We’re in the cafe business not franchise business.

8.) Re-vamp your LinkedIn profile. Don’t use a silly title that will giveaway that you are unemployed.

9) Email marketing is relationship marketing.

10) Commit to valuing people…show preferential treatment and tell your clients that they are your favorite if they are.

11) Don’t push people into social media unless they are ready for it.

12) Be there before the sale (meaning – let them get to know you.)

13) Don’t opt into services that you are not going to use (i.e. unused twitter and Facebook accounts)

14) Don’t force yourself or your product on people

15) His blogging success came when he stopped writing about himself and started to help educate others on marketing. That’s when his numbers shot up.

These tips were spot on in my opinion and I will heed his advice and already have started to with this column. I hope that some of Chris’ words have helped as you form your small business. In the future, I promise that I will try my best to provide you with more helpful content and less about me and my opinion.

Cindy

Cindy Ronzoni

A blog about digital media, PR and other such things

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An Unforgettable Elvis – Cirque du Soleil Homage to a Legion