Focus on the solution and the problem will solve itself.

If you know me well, you know that one of my biggest challenge is to stay positive. While negativity never show up on a statement, it always have something to do with the results. 
If you believe that you will get sick, you have a better chance of getting sick. 
If you believe you will get in a car wreck, you’d better call the body shop because you’ll soon have to get your car repaired.
The positive attitude you need to succeed is not on CNN, FOX, ABC, CBS or any of the other cable or radio channels or any newspaper.
In fact, the media that depends on bad news for their revenue are even starting to become concerned about losing viewers due to the vast amount of negativity that they regurgitate in such phenomenal proportions.
I suggest that you start following programs designed to shift your attention to the positive and solution oriented. If you want positive results, you must send all the energy you have to the right place.
You also have to be careful with you surrounding. Telling someone to just be positive in an environment that is very negative is like telling someone who is swimming in the ocean not to get wet.
Your friends, coworkers and family members unintentionally but freely contribute negativity to your life each day. Watch out for those type of inputs that enter your mindset and filter them out to replace them to positive data.

Wolf of Marketing

"THE WOLF OF MARKETING"

Online reviews from bloggers can drive product sales in a big way. Today's most popular form of word-of-mouth marketing "BLOGGERS"

THE WOLF OF MARKETING

Bloggers Role is Huge in Word of Mouth Marketing

Consumers no longer want to hear from brands anymore, they want to hear from other consumers for a recommendation and bloggers are a key part in B2I2C. (Business to Influencer to Consumer)

Just take a look at some of the stats:

·         31% of consumers say blog influenced their purchase

·         81% of the online population trusts information and advice they get from bloggers

·         61% of the online population has made a purchase based on a recommendation from bloggers.

Not too long ago, when potential customers wanted to know about the quality of your product or service, they relied on the opinions of friends and family. Word-of-mouth is still alive in today’s connected world—it’s just become exponentially amplified with the use of online reviews. One good (or bad) review of your business can echo through cyberspace indefinitely

Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better

Interestingly enough, 54% of consumers believe that the smaller the community the bigger the influence. Consumer’s belief in the trustworthiness of smaller communities.  No community should consider themselves too small to start tracking metrics.

Targets are Niche Based not Genre Any-more

When PR pros reached out to traditional journalists, they were reaching out to people who covered a much broader area whereas bloggers write about very specific topics.

A blogger’s audience comes to them and follows them to stay up to date, inspired or educated on a very specific topic and a brand mention that doesn’t fit snugly within that niche sticks out like a sore thumb.

Finding niche bloggers is a lot more involved and time consuming than consulting a traditional media data base of contacts. Hence the popularity of blogger outreach tools within the last few years.

If you’re a Group High user, the “post content filter” is very useful in finding bloggers by targeted topics.

Because I work best with examples: I’m promoting a brand of clothing and want to do a campaign where I have fashion bloggers who can review my clothing brand. Well, I wouldn’t reach out to all DIY and fashion bloggers because some never write about clothing—they may only write about accessories.

Thus I’d want to research bloggers who focus not just on DIY and clothing but DIY and fashion clothing that at least occasionally include clothing style tips or inspiration in their posts. I would also want to make sure I eliminate the bloggers who write about DIY for people on a budget because that would not be my target audience.

Powerful Messaging

With the access everyone has to social media and how quickly digital words can spread, everything a blogger says—fantastic or awful—gets amplified. Through social media sharing and re sharing and their recommendations and lack thereof in their posts.

Even a “bad pitch” now gets publicized and spread around all over Twitter, Instagram, Pintrest and inserted in to blog posts so a word of caution there!

More Personify

From the pitch you send to your bloggers to the content that they create for their audience—it’s all super targeted and personalized.

Bloggers respond better to personalized pitches that show that you have read their blog.

They are also creating content personalized for a targeted audience of your buyer personas so the “personal touch” you put in your pitch and blogger communication will be reciprocated with some fantastic posts recommending your brand.

Mid-Level Works

Many brands are seeing success by pitching a higher volume of mid-level influencers, often in the form of bloggers, than “super influencers” like celebrities.

It’s a Dark World

Working with traditional journalists followed a very black and white process and set of rules.

·         Bloggers don’t set rules

·         Strict code of ethics or editorial schedule is not required.

Involving Network Power

Because bloggers are an involving network, their audiences tend to be very engaged and loyal.

Bloggers tailor their post and engage audience with them because they would not be successful without their followers. This causes a relationship of extreme loyalty which means a brand mention causes more action than awareness.

What are your thoughts on THE WOLF OF MARKETING? Would love input in the comments below. 

Cheers to a good discussion!

The Wolf of Marketing & PR

The Wolf of Marketing & PR

Coming out soon....

It will change the way you think & help the Marketing and PR to achive what they want.

3 Reasons, High Data IQ is Important for Marketers

"The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand.We listen to reply".

I love the show Mad Men—and not just because Don Draper is such eye candy. As a marketer, I find the show to be the perfect fantasy world: Creative people dream up ideas in the morning then spend the afternoon sipping martinis and hoping their brilliant ideas work out. 

So, here are the 3 reasons why marketer needs to have a high data I.Q

PR MEETS MARKETING

In the real world, however, screenwriters can't ensure our success, so we rely on data. But data is not a crutch nor a replacement for creativity. Data is the means to predict the outcomes of our efforts with unprecedented accuracy.

The effectiveness of our marketing efforts heavily relies on our proficiency to use the data at our disposal—in other words, it relies on our data IQ. All marketers need it, and all the best marketers have it in spades.

Here are three reasons why you, as a marketer, want to have a high data IQ.

1. Data gives you creative freedom

I'm a "real-time data" kind of chief marketing officer (CMO). Knowing the real-time results of every activity my team undertakes lets me try new things and take more risks.

Think about this scenario without data: A team member comes up with a zany social media idea, but it represents a significant investment. Without data to show a return, the answer is undoubtedly No. That's much too risky a bet when every dollar counts!

On the flip side, when I have data, I can say yes because I can watch the idea's success (or failure) in real time. Things aren't working out? Pull the plug. Is the idea working better than anticipated? Put more resources against it, or mirror that campaign for other targets and continue testing.

With data, nothing is too crazy.

2. You can create better marketing plans

Marketing is the engine that drives company success. Leads have to be generated before they can be closed. Consumers must be aware of your brand before they can buy from you.

That's why data IQ drives higher conversions and better sales. When you have data behind every strategy you use, the job of creating a marketing plan is no longer mired in "what works and what doesn't" but becomes "what works and what works better."

And I'm not speaking from pie-in-the-sky platitudes. I've seen marketers rework marketing plans based on solid data and increase revenue by 20%–30% year-over-year. You can only deliver those kinds of results when you have the data to optimize the work you're doing.

3. You can drive your own compensation

With every step up the corporate ladder, my compensation has become increasingly tied to marketing spend ROI. And I'm not the only one. Whether part of a compensation package or the meat of a bonus structure, ROI is counting in more marketers' compensation plans today.
                     If you don't have a high data IQ, you're missing the ability to determine your own compensation. On the other hand, a high data IQ allows you to give yourself a bigger paycheck by driving exactly those areas that boost your compensation.

"When you have control over your data, you have control over everything."

So, while I envy Don Draper's three-martini lunches, I would never trade my data for a 1960s pencil skirt and everything that goes with it. I don't need screenwriters to write my success. When I'm armed with data, I write it myself.

Article: Heather Zynczak 
Edited by: PR Meets Marketing

The Importance of LinkedIn for corporate's

LinkedIn is comprised of 110 million professional profiles and more than 2.2 million company profiles that can be tapped according to interest, specialty, location and background.

"The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual."

Organisations professionals are now reporting some of the most valuable assets of this social-media tool and how it has directly helped their organization on many levels.
This feedback has yielded useful information about several actions you can take on a daily basis via LinkedIn to help empower your organisation’s mission.


 The first rule of thumb is “be seen and be heard".
” Yes, you initially should reach out and connect your profile with as many relevant professionals you directly know.
Then you should strive to connect with new people through your own connections.
You probably have already pursued these two tasks and have maximized your connections.

Search

• The next step is to search through hundreds of profiles and invite those who would be relevant and helpful to the work you do (and vice versa – connections should be mutually beneficial). 
• While this may sound arduous, a gain of more than 500 connections all over the world would be worth the time spent. 

Be Seen & Heard 

• To be seen and heard, you need to join almost every LinkedIn group you find relevant to your organisation’s mission. 
• And don’t stop there. 
• These groups connect to a large range of people and you have the ability to participate or start group discussions every day. 
• When the discussion is right, interject and share your organisation’s story or issues with your peers. 
• Do this regularly. As you become more seen and heard over time, you will be surprised how many new people invite you to be their connection. And you’ll be surprised by who else is taking notes in group discussion forums – from potential donors to the media. 

While LinkedIn offers a search function that can query all groups and members, it also allows users to perform searches for multiple purposes, such as researching donors, finding new board members or locating qualified employees.

For example, let’s say you are having a challenging time reaching a decision-maker at a targeted company to discuss sponsorship opportunities.

Today, LinkedIn has added a professional team to monitor the specific needs of organisation through LinkedIn organisation Solutions. Review this new resource for other strategies to maximizing the potential of social media.

How to get your Organisation's Professionals in News

 PR Meets Marketing

How to get your organisation's professionals in news.

Highly Effective & Helps increasing awareness for your organisation.

"STAY CONNECTED WITH US"

COMMENTS & REVIEWS ARE WELCOMED

Don’t Treat Every Press Release the Same

This is where PR Meets Marketing.

• If your organisation goes through the same motions each time it sends out a press release, it is time to take a good look at your approach. 
• Just organizing the information to fit in a press-release format and sending it out to your media list isn’isn't enough. 
• If you are wondering why some organizations get more attention than others – it’s in the details. Sure, it helps when you have a great story to tell – but that alone isn’t enough if the pitch for that great story is not being thrown correctly. 
• Do you have different lists for different types of press releases? This is where the novices get separated from the seasoned pros. 
• You would be surprised to find out how many calendar editors receive hard news releases and how many news editors get calendar listings. 
• Journalists are extremely busy, and on top of that, they are receiving dozens of press releases and story pitches each hour (and in some cases, each minute). 
• Do them a favor and customize your press-release distributions. 
• Understand who is on your list. If you manage a small media-contact list and you have never picked up the phone and spoken to them directly, now’s the time.
• Ask them what their role is and what types of subjects they cover. 
• How do they prefer to receive releases? Email? Fax? A short email pitch (and no release)? If your list is larger, you may not be able to call each one, but you should take the time to look at each contact on that list. 
• Understand your list. Are the email addresses general ones or personal. 
• What types of media outlets are on the list? Television? Daily newspapers? Weeklies? Magazines? Each one of these categories is completely different from the other and the same press release shouldn’t necessarily be sent to them. 
• If a news release doesn’t offer an opportunity for good video, television news simply is not going to be interested. And magazines plan their stories months in advance, and have published editorial calendars you should become familiar with. 
• If your organization has regular events (such as performing arts and community events), it is extremely important to understand how the local papers manage their calendar listings. If you know whom to send them to, by when and in what format, it is almost guaranteed free publicity. 
• If you aren’t having any luck but notice an organization that is, simply try giving your counterpart at that organization a call and asking them out for coffee to discuss his or her genius. Learn from others. Know when not to send a press release. 
• If you have a small local paper that loves publishing stories like “local business gives free color copies to organisation,” then go ahead and send it – but only to them. Your organization’s website is also an appropriate place for a story like this (also, be sure to have the business publish it on their website and in their company newsletter, if they have one). But don’t send non-newsworthy items like this to your media contacts. That’s no way to get their attention.