I have to confess: I’m a hypocrite. In the past, I have harped on having a marketing plan, but all too often I have let my own slip by and not get updated. For 2010, with all the changes and laser focus I’ve had that you’ve witnessed in my Branding Friday segment, I knew I had to get an updated plan.

First, I broke down my business into categories that make me money (or will soon):

• Consulting
• Marketing EggSchool

Then I listed those things I do that don’t directly make me money:

• Blogging
• Speaking

I took speaking off the table for now, because I would like to do it to make money, but at this point I need to focus on the things that are a bit easier. I don’t want to have too many areas to focus on or I will certainly lose focus.

Under each category, I described my plan. How will I market my consulting practice? My ecourses? I need a separate and very different plan for each. This year I will be writing more whitepapers (see Connecting Brands with Bloggers as my first one), attending the right conferences and continue to build Susan Payton as The Marketing Eggspert.

I’ll do a better job of measuring my efforts and dropping what isn’t working. I will check in quarterly and update my plan as it evolves. Will you do the same? Let’s hold one another accountable this year and make sure we stay on target.

Egg recently released a new whitepaper called The Importance of Connecting Brands with Bloggers. If you’re not already working with bloggers to expand your visibility online, I recommend you read it.

You know I’m all about bloggers. You know I’m a strong believer in the fact that they can help you find brand evangelists and new customers. But did you know I help my clients through Egg connect with bloggers? We’ve helpd PicClick, the visual online eBay auction site, get the attention of fashionistas. And when Glitch Gear released its new line of Left 4 Dead apparel, we connected them with gaming bloggers.

And we get results. The blogs that write about our brands have gotten them hundreds of new visitors to their websites. Couldn’t you stand a few more visitors?

Download the free whitepaper now.

I got some steaks to review and we are currently doing giveaways of the product. Let that be my disclosure. I get paid in steaks. The products are excellent, and I wish they sold more variety in my area. (Still, Gary was nice enough to mail me some of their fabulous 100-calorie steaks). I didn’t used to eat red meat, but now, thanks to Chef’s Requested and a really good cook for a husband, I am a steak monster.

Just today I noticed that Chef’s Requested is holding a contest. The winner will receive $1500 to attend a blogging conference of her (yes, her.) choice.  They outline the rules here on Facebook. I love this. It shows again that they know that bloggers are key in helping them build their brand. And I certainly don’t mind passing it on to you.

If you’re a blogger, enter the contest. If you are a steak monster, buy the steak.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Sponsored Tweets. All opinions are 100% mine.

I’ve been working with Sponsored Tweets for a while now, occasionally tweeting out a relevant tweet for an advertiser. It’s painless, easy and lets me make a little bit of pocket change. Let me explain how it works.

Companies are looking to reach a wider audience. What better method than through Twitter, the viral social media tool? If you’re a die-hard Twitter fan like me, you know that sometimes when you post something of interest, others will retweet it. It can spread like wildfire that way.

So as a Twitter user, why not make some money by spreading the word about quality advertisers (and every advertiser I’ve tweeted about has been a good one; no crappy spam tweets)? Getting started is really easy.  Just sign up for sponsored tweets and start looking for good opportunities to tweet. You can set how much you make, although Sponsored Tweets gives you a suggested rate based on how many Twitter followers you have.

Once your account reaches $50 you can cash out. It couldn’t be easier.

Something I really like about Sponsored Tweets is that it requires you to disclose in the tweet that it’s sponsored. You can’t even submit your tweet unless it meets their stringent disclosure requirements.

If you’re on Twitter, check out Sponsored Tweets and sign up for sponsored tweets.

One thing I swore I’d never do is teach. Blame it on my stint working as a preschool teacher. There’s just something about getting in front of a group of people (potty trained or otherwise) and claiming to be the expert that never appealed to me. Until I became the Marketing Eggspert. And basically, that’s what I’m doing. Standing up and saying “I’m the expert. Listen to me.”

And so lately, I have gotten into teaching seminars. I’ve done this online over the past few years, but never in person until recently. I was fortunate enough to participate with Microsoft Office Live and Kirtsy’s Hands on Small Business events, where I got a taste of in-person teaching.

Teaching a seminar or course is a great way to show your stuff, to establish yourself as an expert.

How you can teach a course:

1. Decide what you want to teach. It should be something you know intimately, and that provides others benefits. For me, it was using internet marketing to grow a business.

2. Find a venue. It may be the local university or community college (I went through Continuing Education). It might be the library or small business resource center. Ask your Chamber of Commerce if you don’t know where to start.

3. Introduce yourself. Send a brief email introducing yourself, mentioning your experience (again, briefly) and your interest in teaching a seminar on X. Ask if this is of interest.

4. Follow up. If you don’t hear back in a week, call the contact. They’re busy. Follow up to see if it’s possible to work with this venue to offer a course. It may be next semester before they can fit you in.

5. Start planning. Once you get your course set up, plan your seminar with a syllabus or outline. Market it. Reach out to the Chamber and any business organizations (the venue may also have a database of contacts they can tell), and invite them to your course.  Promote it up through the date. Facebook has a good tool called Eventbrite that you can use to get people to register.

FAQs

Should I charge for the course?

• This may depend on the venue. Most non-profit and government agencies (read: universities) won’t let you charge or promote yourself. You may just do it out of the goodness of your heart and then follow up with participants via email after. Your students will be impressed with you and will be more inclined to buy whatever it is you’re selling.

How long should my course be?

• Don’t keep participants longer than their attention spans can handle. I suggest 2 to 3 hours, with breaks. Provide refreshments to keep people happy.

What time of day should my seminar be?

• I held mine in the morning and had about 10 students. Many people expressed a wish that it was in the evening after work. Determine who your audience is and what their availability is. Or do 2 classes.

Dear [blank]:

Thank you for your untargeted pitch. I can see you don’t read my blog about PR and how to pitch. Although your brief mention of my most recent post shows you can indeed read.

Although I find your [boring news] fascinating, I don’t write about cars/dog grooming/IT. You would know that if you read more than one blog post of mine.

Perhaps you should read my blog. It gives great advice about how to pitch. Rule #1: don’t give a canned pitch to someone who works in PR. You will get called out. On the internet. By me.

Best of luck to you! Maybe I’ll see you flipping burgers soon.

Sincerely,

The Marketing Eggspert

What do you think? Too harsh??

First you need to find a blogger that is passionate about your product. Or who can be. I hadn’t used True Lemon before working with them, but once I tried the product, I recognized it as unique to its industry, and I knew that other women would be excited about a zero calorie citrus product. So that made it easy. Search for your company name and see who is talking about you. You may have a brand evangelist you don’t even know about who would make a good candidate.

Next, find a conference that is a good fit for you. For True Lemon, a conference full of women and moms was ideal. It was a bonus that they all blog (more opportunity for them to spread the word). It may be a trade show or a technical conference, depending on your product and customer profile.

Now you’ll need to work out a package. If the blogger approached you about a sponsorship, she may have packages worked out in terms of what she will provide you. For True Lemon, I:

• Blogged about them using links before, during and after the conference
• Gave away samples
• Gave away bigger prizes
• Wore their shirt
• Took video interviewing people on their perception of the product
• Held a giveaway for non attendees on my blog at the same time

If you have samples, a conference is a great place to let them try it. If your product is bigger or more expensive, invest in some sort of promotional items that don’t suck and ask your blogger to distribute them. Contests are a great way to generate a buzz.

If you feel the need to draw up a contract, do so. Usually this is a pretty informal situation.

After the conference get a report back from the blogger on the feedback she received. Make plans and tweak what you did this time for the next conference. Find a way to measure results. How many people entered the contest? Did she bring new followers to your Twitter or Facebook account? More web traffic? Did she get business cards that you can use to send info to?

What about cost? We can’t afford to sponsor a blogger. The truth is: you can’t afford not to (I say that a lot, don’t I?). Think of it like this: if your company were to exhibit at the conference, you would spend probably $20,000 on a booth, marketing and display collateral and travel expenses. You can retain the services of a blogger for far less and probably get better results.

What do you think? Would you consider sponsoring a blogger as a new marketing tool?

Let’s start with the authors. As you regular readers know, I’m a big fan of Chris‘.  He truly is all about the human connection, and he teaches readers how to focus on the human element in this book. Julien, I’m less familiar with. Still he’s in good company, and from what I glean, he’s more about the technical side of connecting people. Combining these two elements makes this book perfect (and all the awards it’s won are a testament to that).

This is already starting to sound like a sponsored review. But it’s not. Let’s just clear that up. I’m just a big fan.

Trust Agents talks about how to really interact with people in an era where we’ve got thousands of connections through social media. I know I’ve had trouble connecting. I already blogged about the 150 concept they discuss (and I’m not attributing it to them solely; if it’s been talked about in previous books, great. I just read it here first).  Chris and Julien encourage you to develop stronger relationships with a select few of your network rather than shallow ones with thousands.

They talk about making connections, and how being a part of multiple groups and networks helps you become what they call a trust agent. A trust agent is a person who shares and connects, is helpful simply because he should be, and delivers value without asking for anything.  I like that. I like to think I do that with this blog, which is designed to help entrepreneurs navigate their way through marketing on their own.

There’s just so much good stuff in this book. You’ll have to read it yourself. Here are a few takeaways:

• Be human. People would rather buy from a person than a company.
• Ask questions. Get to know people.
• Bury your agenda. If people see you as a trust agent, the sales and business partnerships will come.
• Give. Give. Give.
• Connect other people that can provide value to one another.

Hmm. This sounds a bit like Buddhism. Do good because it’s the right thing to do, not to seek a reward. I like it!

Have you read the book? How can you apply the idea of being a trust agent to your business?

When I started Egg, I found myself an accidental entrepreneur. I had quit/gotten fired a bad job with a horrible boss. I started writing press releases. And stock tips. And emails. And resumes. And anything that would pay the bills. In some ways, I still have that mindset.

As an entrepreneur who is struggling (is there any other kind?), we tend to do whatever it takes. But is that actually detrimental to us? Everything I’m reading (including All for One) is pointing me in a single, focused direction. It’s urging me to shed the low-pay, non-focused efforts in favor of the niche I’m trying to create for myself.

And so, I will have to say no.

I will be more picky. I won’t sign up to market services (nothing against them, but it’s much harder to measure interest in something intangible than a product that gets bought off a shelf).  I won’t take on any teeny one-time projects. They don’t allow me to really help a business develop its brand, and the clients always expect too much out of a single press release.

I will look for projects with large budgets. With a desire to work with a marketing consultant long term. That understand that marketing doesn’t happen with a single email, press release or two weeks of social media. That it’s about long term commitment to building a brand.

And by asking for it, I will receive it. (cue heavenly music)

What about you? Could you stand to start saying no (I think no matter who you are, you could.)? I’m looking forward to saying no (unless you really really need a press release. Wait–NO!!!)

She points to a really fantastic presentation by Olivier Blanchard, which I will also use here:

Christina talks about goals, and the importance of having them before you even try to find your ROI. And it’s true. I know so many companies who want to get into social media because everyone else is. But why? What do you hope to attain by doing so? It’s not going to get you instant sales, so you need to be ok with using social media to build your brand and connect with your customers. If you think this is a waste of money, social media is not for you.

Assign a value to everything you do. If your Twitter reach is 5,000 people, that’s worth something. (not if you don’t interact regularly, though). If a Google AdWords click is $1, that’s a value. What’s a click worth from Twitter? Even if you start with arbitrary numbers, at least you’ve got something to look to for metrics. If you spend 20 hours on Twitter to get 1 sale, that ROI isn’t as good as if you spent 15 minutes crafting a custom email. Got it?

Here’s an interesting Twitter conversation I had with @jacobm on the subject.

What are your thoughts? Do you measure social media ROI? How?

I get releases that are simply a cut/paste of a press release. That has nothing to do with my interests. Trash. I get endlessly long email pitches that take forever to get to the point. Trash.

Here are 5 ways you can be sure to end up in the trash. If that’s where you want to be.

1. Don’t read the blog or website. You’re a busy person. Why bother reading the source you’re pitching? They’ll be interested in your fantastic news no matter what.

2. Cut and paste. Again, busy. It saves time to just cut and paste your pitch (including the snazzy Dear Editor title) for each email you send.

3. Make it long. The more info, the better, right? Besides, you’re such a good writer you know they’ll be hanging on to the edge of their seats until you get to the point…waaay at the bottom.

4. Don’t bother with goals. You just want to spread the world with your news, so coming up with objectives and goals for your PR campaign ain’t worth the trouble.

On the other hand, a well-crafted pitch gets my attention, even if I may not be interested in the subject. Take Natalie Sisson, of ConnectionPoint Systems Inc. She recently sent me this pitch.

Hi Susan

I read your Facebook pages blog sometime back and thought you’d be a super handy person to contact since you’re so clued up on Facebook, blogging and social networks. We’re a Vancouver startup that recently launched our Facebook application  FundRazr – the easiest way to collect money and manage members on Facebook. We believe we can change the face of fundraising and payments in social networks.

Is there anyway we can talk to you about our application and doing a story that would be interesting to your readers?

I’ve attached our latest press release so you can read more.

Thanks in advance

Natalie

Why I like it.

• Flattery works. She said she read some of my work. Then she said I’d be the best person to share this with. (watch my peacock feathers ruffle)
• She told me in 1 sentence what her company does. Rock.
• She politely asked if I’d want to share this info.

While this is a little off from what I write about, I did decide to include FundRazr in an upcoming post…because she pitched me correctly.

What did you learn from this?

Networking

If you’re looking for a way to share your contact info with others, try the Professional Profile: Networking app or Business Cards.

Planning an Event

If you hold events, be it online or in person, you can use one of the many Event applications to help herd people and gauge attendance. Eventbrite is popular, because you can accept payment through this app.

Fundraising

If you are a nonprofit or organization, you know that collecting funds online can require a sophisticated web interface. Try instead using FundRazr, the Facebook app that lets you collect money and communicate with supporters.

There are tons of other Facebook applications that might serve other needs you have. Search for them and see how you can add to the experience a fan has on your Facebook page

I am hanging out with the wrong crowd.

On Twitter and Facebook, I hang out with social media and marketing types. I read the same types of books. But if I’m working on branding myself in a niche, shouldn’t I be hanging out in that niche??

Go ahead and say it. Duh.

Still, it takes a catalyst for us to have these realizations, so I’m pretty proud. I recently honed my focus into products that appeal to women and mothers. I wanted to pick an industry that I knew, liked and was comfortable working in. I’m a woman and mother, and working with my GiveDaddy giveaway blog, I realized how much I like telling others about great products.

So I have made it my goal to do the following:

• Spend less time following social media and marketing conversations
• Finish reading the stack of social media books I owe reviews on, then switch to reading about marketing to this demographic
• Attend product related trade shows next year rather than focus on blog conferences
• Pay attention to more brands on social media
• Establish myself as someone who knows her stuff in this realm

That’s not to say I’m foresaking my social media buds. I still learn a ton from them. But I need to follow a different school of learning if I really want to get good at my industry. It’s easy to stay complacent when we truly have mastered something, but how hard is it to leave the comfort of the nest and try to master something else? Pretty hard. But I have you as my witness, so I’m going to be just fine.

What about you? What’s that thing you’re fantastic at that you don’t want to leave? Could you stand to hang out with a different crowd online to learn something new?

Flash forward to today. Stories come in via Twitter, Facebook and AP RSS feeds. Journalists are now hybrid reporters/bloggers. Their content is more important online than it is in print. Newspapers themselves are forced to adapt to how technology has changed its format…or shut its doors, the way so many have.

Good journalists know they have to open the doors to the masses via social media tools. They need to be accessible, even if that means a constant stream of pitches. They have to, because their jobs are about communicating. And that’s what social media does.

And yet, I’m amazed at how few newspaper websites list journalist and editor Twitter IDs.  Back in Orlando, the Orlando Sentinel has a page with all the journalists’ Twitter IDs. MuckRack is a gathering of journalists who can be found on Twitter. Why, then, don’t more journalists embrace the inevitable and use social media to get their jobs done?

Maybe because they’re resistant to change. Maybe because like so many large corporations, they fear what social media will bring.

I say, bring it on.

Regular readers know that I talk about how to write a press release and what to do with it next. Press releases are still an important part to any PR and marketing campaign, but make sure you have a strategy as to what you want them to do. Here are some tips:

• Make a list of topics you can write about so that you have releases coming out monthly or more frequently.
• Spread them through Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites.
• Write your release in terms of how it benefits your consumers.
• Write a headline that makes people want to read more.

For more great tips, as well as detailed instructions on how to write a press release, take my How to Write Killer Press Releases ecourse for just $20.

I rushed to our cleaners, not really hoping I’d be able to convince them to have them ready before they closed on Saturday. I politely asked the man if they could possibly be ready. I could see the consternation on his face. I was asking a lot. He went to the back and asked, then came back and told me to call that afternoon to see if they could do it. I can do that.

2 hours later I get a call from him. Saying the pants (all 5 pairs) are ready. Now. Wow. I can’t beat that.

I was so grateful I wanted to buy him a gift. But I decided the best gift I could give him was my continued business and maybe a little mention on something called a blog (they’re not well known in my parts).

For my Egg customers and contacts, I often send them postings from Help a Reporter Out that I think they should take advantage of. I don’t charge for this service; I do it out of the kindness of my heart. Really.

A former boss would send his investor relations clients newspaper clippings of interest. Same concept.

You’ll find success in customer service by going out of your way to help someone. And they’ll tell others. I guarantee.

Are you familiar with trending on Twitter? Basically it’s what people are talking about right now on Twitter. It could be Kate Gosselin. The real Shaq. The economy. Halloween.

If you use Twitter, you may have noticed on the right hand side of your profile page a list of Trending Topics. Click on any of them and you’ll see the most recent streams mentioning this word or hashtag. If you’re interested in the topic, it’s a great way to see what people are saying about it.

Halloween is currently a trending topic. Understandable, since it’s just around the corner.

Let’s look at this from a marketing perspective. If you could find some relationship to Halloween and tweet about it, your tweet would appear in that trending stream. People would click on it. They’d follow you. They’d visit your website. Not bad for 140 characters.

Let’s give it a try. What do you do? Are you having a Halloween sale? Selling special items just for Halloween? If you can’t think of anything that directly relates, try offering tips. Write a blog post (a la this one) and tweet it out to get traffic to it. Here’s a few suggestions:

• PR people can tweet 10 Halloween-worthy press release ideas
• Real estate folks can tweet top not-so-scary housing markets with hashtag #halloween
• DJs can tweet Halloween party venues

Get creative. It’s fun. And you don’t have to stick to Halloween. Take any trending topic and relate it to what you do, then make sure to use that keyword or hashtag in your tweet. Track the traffic that comes to your site as a result.

Until recently, I used BaseCamp to manage my projects for Egg Marketing. It was great, and I didn’t have a negative reason for switching…other than price. I came across Projecturf, and for the opportunity to save $10 to $20 a month, I thought it was worth looking at.

Projecturf is great if you’ve got multiple things going on (and who doesn’t?). You might think, “Project management? That’s not what I do.” Think again. If you’re an entrepreneur, you likely handle:

• Payroll
• Hiring
• Product design or supply
• Expenses
• Internet efforts
• Marketing
• Cleaning the toilet

So don’t tell me you don’t manage projects! I often have trouble keeping up with what needs to be done next. I have freelancers working on projects, and honestly, sometimes I forget to check back with them. Projecturf makes it easy. You can manage different projects, upload files, create to-do lists and manage milestones. You can communicate with employees in one place and manage their time cards.

Let me give you a demonstration. Before I used project management applications, I would have a task that needed doing. I would decide which employee could do it. I would email her (yes, we’re all chicks) and give her the description and ask if she could do it. Sometimes I’d write out further instructions on a Word doc. Sometimes I used Google docs. I was inconsistent and unorganized. Here’s that same process on Projecturf.

As you can see, it’s a lot faster to use Projecturf!

In the book, the guys talk about it being difficult to maintain authentic relationships with more than 150 people. I can attest to that. I’ve got over 4,000 followers on Twitter and 1,000 friends on Facebook. After scanning the streams, I feel like I know less about all these people rather than more.

So I decided to make my 150 list. It’s going to have 150 of the people I want to interact with regularly. That might mean checking in on their blogs once a week, sending a Facebook message, paying attention to their Tweets. And that’s not to say I won’t pay attention to anyone else. But I want to make an effort to really listen to these 150.

So where am I with my list? I have about 40-50 so far. It’s harder than I thought. For each person in my contact database and Facebook friends list (I haven’t even hit Twitter yet) I ask, “Is this someone I want to pay extra attention to?” I want to pay attention to everyone but the real question comes down to: will I benefit from listening to this person? Will they benefit from listening to me?

I will make my list flexible. I can switch out people as my interests change. I used to read ProBlogger much more than I do now when I was starting out blogging, but these days I’m less about the how-to of blogging and more about developing solid content. That’s not to say Darren Rowse isn’t worth listening to; I’m just knee-deep in other areas right now.

My goal in this is to cut through the noise. Hearing so many virtual voices in my head is starting to be a deterrent from my work, and it’s keeping me from building really good relationships with the people I do care about.

What about you? Could you stand to focus on a few less people? Who would be in your 150?

It’s clear that the public relations landscape is changing. No longer does emailing a journalist a press release always result in coverage on major news channels (there are exceptions, naturally, but the average business doesn’t get on Oprah). These days, journalists (and yes, bloggers too) are inundated with press releases. It’s easy to hit delete and move on.

How do you get your pitch heard above the din? Conversation. Engagement. Interaction.

Social Media is Key in Your Pitch

Pamela Johnston of PJ Inc. Public Relations says she avoids doing certain things on Twitter () that are looked upon negatively, like:

• pimping client news

• straight out traditional pitching

• sending random things to people/journalists she doesn’t know

I like that she doesn’t use traditional methods of pitching on social media. You can’t apply the same methods you used 10 years ago to Twitter. It’s impossible. Instead, you must find new ways to reach media contacts.

The world is small these days. Social media tools like Twitter, Facebook , LinkedIn, Kirtsy, Digg, blogs, video and web sites are quickly becoming integrated. It’s fairly easy to connect with someone and keep up with what they’re doing. Journalists and bloggers are no different.

Social Media as a Learning Tool

I make notes in my contact database with links to all her sources. I then make a plan to interact with the journalist in her own space. I comment on posts I like. I retweet her content on Twitter. I send a brief note on Facebook (not pitching a story, but sharing one of her posts I liked and asking to connect). This way, by the time I’m ready to pitch her, I’m already on her radar.

Pitching a media contact is a process. It’s not something that will happen overnight. Plan ahead and work for several weeks to get to know a journalist or blogger for best results.

Be A Resource

It is quite common for reporters, news producers and anchors to post something along the lines of “looking for interesting stories about ______ to discuss today.” Being part of an agency, it is critical for me to capitalize on those opportunities for my clients. Often times, this doesn’t require a “pitch” as much as connecting a reporter with a resource (hopefully my client).

This goes back to monitoring social media. Your best successes might not come from a pitch at all, but rather the reward of being a good listener and paying attention to the journalists you can help. Journalists like being helped better than they like being pitched.

Keep reading the post on Mashable.com.