http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing Marketing in a Web 2.0 World Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:14:06 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I know you're thinking that 2010 is so far off, but it's not. With the whirlwind of parties, potlucks and days off, the new year will be here before you know it. That's why I'm working on my marketing and business plans for next year. I have to confess: I'm a ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/branding-friday-getting-a-plan/ 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 ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/free-whitepaper-connecting-brands-with-bloggers/ When I attended Type A Mom Con, I got to connect with Chef's Requested, a company that produces really good steaks. I'd reached out to them for GiveDaddy, hoping to do a few giveaways with them. Gary Whetstone, the guy in charge of their marketing, was at the conference, which ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/bloggers-and-steak-a-winning-marketing-combination/ 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 ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/sponsored-tweets-smart-social-media-marketing/ Regular readers know I've been working to brand myself as of late. That has included being a marketing resource online (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook), developing online courses on marketing, and of course, blogging. One thing I swore I'd never do is teach. Blame it on my stint working as a preschool teacher. ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/teaching-a-seminar-to-brand-yourself/ I recently wrote a tongue-in-cheek post about how to get your pitch trashed. I decided I'd draft a reply email that I very well may send the next time I get a horrible pitch. Here goes. Dear [blank]: Thank you for your untargeted pitch. I can see you don't read my blog ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/my-reply-to-bad-pr-pitches/ One excellent way to reach your audience is to sponsor a blogger to attend a conference that caters to your target audience. I didn't write much about it here because I was acting on behalf of GiveDaddy, but I was sponsored by True Lemon to attend Type A Mom Conference ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/sponsoring-bloggers-at-conferences/ I'm surprised it's taken me this long to get around to reviewing Chris Brogan and Julien Smith's Trust Agents. This book, which I read a few months ago, is so chock full of good stuff, I don't even know where to begin. Let's start with the authors. As you regular readers ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/book-review-trust-agents/ As I'm shaping Egg Marketing & PR toward my new goal of focusing on consumer products, I realize I'm going to have to say no more. No to projects that aren't a good fit. No to potential clients I know will be difficult to work with. This will be hard. When ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/learning-to-say-no/ I've written about measuring ROI in social media before, but I just found a great article on the subject on Mashable by Christina Warren. She points to a really fantastic presentation by Olivier Blanchard, which I will also use here: Olivier Blanchard Basics Of Social Media Roi View more presentations from ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/measuring-roi-for-social-media/ I've been thinking about pitches lately. Probably because I get a lot of them. And most of them suck. I trash those. 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 ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/4-ways-to-guarantee-your-pitch-gets-trashed/ Facebook has some amazing applications that can help you be more efficient with your business. Before you invest money in developing your own app, see what's out there to help you provide enhanced usability on your business' Facebook page. Networking If you're looking for a way to share your contact info with ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/facebook-apps-dont-reinvent-the-wheel/ I've been reading All for One: 10 Strategies for Building Trusted Client Partnerships. Great book, by the way, if you want to learn how to be more of a partner or advisor to a business rather than just a vendor. In the middle of reading, I had an epiphany: I am ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/branding-friday-are-you-hanging-out-with-the-wrong-people/ Once upon a time, in a land not far away, reporters got the scoop. They received phone tips or faxes on hot stories. They drove to locations to interview people about these stories. Flash forward to today. Stories come in via Twitter, Facebook and AP RSS feeds. Journalists are now hybrid ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/are-traditional-journalists-dead/ I recently launched my How to Write Killer Press Releases e-course, but wanted to give you a little more meat in terms of writing releases that the media and your customers will sit up and take notice of. Regular readers know that I talk about how to write a press release ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/how-to-tuesday-how-to-write-killer-press-releases/ My husband likes to pile up his dirty dress pants in an inconspicuous place and send me telepathic signals that they need to go to the cleaners. Today I found the pile and realized he'd need them before Monday (it's Friday). Crap. I rushed to our cleaners, not really hoping I'd ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/customer-service-lesson-go-out-of-your-way/ Due to the fact last year's Halloween Marketing is getting heavy hits right now, I thought I'd talk about Halloween and social media this year. 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. ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/how-to-tuesday-halloween-marketing-trending-on-twitter/ This is a partially sponsored post. As in, I didn't get paid cash but I got a free subscription of this product. Just wanted to say. 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 ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/keep-your-work-organized-with-projecturf/ I just finished reading Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, so expect to hear a lot about it in the future. It's the best book I've read since The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David M. Scott. In the book, the guys talk about it being difficult ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/branding-friday-building-my-150/ I published this article on Mashable.com this week and it got great feedback. 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 ... http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/how-to-use-social-media-in-your-pr-pitch-plan/