This post coming–once again–from a reaction to John Jantsch’s Duct Tape Marketing Blog, where Jantsch interviews author John Warrillow (who has written Built to Sell) posits that your business is worthless if it “depends on you.”  Obviously, Mr. Warrillow is approaching this from the point of view of someone who looks to develop businesses that will be sold, along the road, as their principle money maker for the owner and founder of the business. I’d take exception to some of his points; I don’t think that you need to plan for your business to 1) employ people after you’re done with it or even 2) employ you forever.  The simple fact’s that, over a 5 year period, most small businesses are going to go belly-up anyway. It’s part of the nature of owning a small business.  That doesn’t make it worthless. If you’ve gotten along in your business, helped out other businesses or organizations, and paid your bills for the duration of the run, I’d say you did pretty well. If you’re looking to turn a one-man shop into a national (or multinational!) empire, I’d say having an exit plan in mind is probably a good idea, then. Especially if you’re looking to take the company public, since investors are much happier when they’re putting money in a business that doesn’t depend on one person to run.

So why is a PR Blog writing about this? If you intend to run your business such that it can be sold off one day and still operate as well as it ever did, there are some public relations implications that you need to consider.  Let’s list ‘em:

1. Consider Your Brand’s “Face”: It’s ironic that John Warrilow is writing about the necessity of building a business that you can sell on a blog like Duct Tape Marketing, because John Jantsch is so tied up in that business that it’s impossible to think of DTM without him. If your brand’s “face” is you, the owner, then when you leave, the company’s going to suffer. Put your strength behind your brand instead of putting it behind yourself.
2. Consider Your Brand’s Culture:  Small, quirky, and plucky work well for any number of companies, including some of my favorites; if that culture is a big attraction to your clients, your sale just got a lot harder, not just because fewer people want to buy businesses run in a “quirky” fashion, but also because you will quickly find that your business customers realize when they aren’t getting the same experience that they had been.
3. Consider Your Brand’s Presence: I counsel my clients to follow a social media regimen that’s roughly 30 minutes a day (Here’s a breakdown of my recommended daily social media workout). If you’re doing anything like that yourself, you can bet that suddenly vanishing off the social media space will alienate a sector of your customers.  If you’re managing your brand’s social media presence, you’d better have good documentation on what it is that you do so that you can pass that along to the next guy.
4. Consider Your Business’s Customers: What happens to them? While you might not care too much what happens to the customers of a business that you no longer own, having a string of companies that stop servicing customers once you’ve sold ‘em will eventually catch up to you. Further, it’s going to impact your ability to sell your business, if your model’s sustainable for someone else or not.

All of these relate to how your business’s public policy decisions influence your ability to sell it and move on, so think about those things if you pick up a copy of “Built to Sell” in the future.

Since the holidays, I’ve been on the South Beach diet to lose some of those 20 extra pounds that magically appeared on my midsection this year (wonder how that happened!). That’s inspired me to start providing my social media clients with a lean, mean regimen for their social media program. It’s worked for them, and you can use it, too. While this is a post that’s more appropriate on my social media business blog (where it will get to eventually), it’s valuable PR strategy, too. It is lean, mean, and anyone can do it to get more out of their social media efforts.

Here’s your new social media workout plan:

• Hit up your social media services 3x a day for about 10 minutes each time. Identify which services are most effective for you and use those more often. I generally say 10 minutes before work, 10 at lunch, and 10 minutes after the day is done.
• If you’re using an analytics program like Google Analytics, use your natural search queries to tell you what phrases people are finding you for. Are those phrases you want to be found for? Then use them in your social media. Is your audience coming from keywords that don’t convert? Use better keywords in your social media.
• If you aren’t measuring analytics, go to Google.com/analytics and do so.
• Basic morning routine for Twitter:
  • Identify two or three twitter personalities that always have something interesting to say. Each morning, retweet something they’ve posted.
  • Find a blog or two that writes in your space. Tweet links to the interesting articles that they’ve written
  • Write a blog yourself? Make sure that you put your content in your tweets.
  • Look over your replies and DM’s and answer all appropriately
  • Finally, using a client like TweetDeck or Seesmic Desktop, set up searches for words or phrases that are pertinent to what you do. Reply to other twitter posters who post using those terms.
  • This should take 10 – 15 minutes every day, once you get it to a system.
• Basic afternoon routine for Facebook;
  • Check out your wall. Have you gotten new fans? Welcome them with a quick message.
  • Have you had any kind of event recently? Post pictures / video / whatever on it.
  • Run Facebook searches for terms that are pertinent to your organization. Have your fan page become a fan of other organizations that have similar interests.
  • Look over your wall for comments and reply; empty out inbox and reply as well
  • Post 2 -3 links to interesting information that is related to your organization
  • This takes 10 – 15 minutes when it’s done
• LinkedIn Evening routine
  • Look for questions on the groups that you belong to. Answer two that you can legitimately offer an interesting and informed opinion on.
  • Been to a networking event? Run searches on people who’s cards you have. Find them on LinkedIn and follow ‘em.
  • Has anyone in your network changed job positions or posted another important status update? Drop ‘em a note commenting on it.
  • This is 5 – 10 minutes of work.
• Blogging / Internet Evening routine
  • Set up Google Alerts on keywords that are pertinent to your interests. Get emails daily and check the links that Google sends you out. Generally, I recommend an alert on your brand, on your market, and on yourself as well.  Read the alerts for links / ideas for the other social media outlets and click through on the interesting ones.
  • Leave comments on any blog post that you actually read. Yes, every single one. They have to have something interesting to say, but don’t need to be Shakespeare.
  • This takes 10 minutes or so.

There’s your daily workout. Stick to it for 3 months and come back for a checkup.

…because he was so politely insistent about it:

The Feb 9, 2010 Daily Rundown.

John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing (which is an awesome blog you should read right now if you don’t know about it.) hits on a topic that hits close to home for me, so let’s chat:

In “The Right and Wrong of PR Pitches“, he discusses what is probably the perfect example of what good PR should be from the journalists perspective. Since it’s Yelp that did the PR work (and they get social media) it doesn’t shock me to hear that they impressed John. He talks about what he liked from the PR outreach side, there, but let me go into a little detail one of the points that he quickly sketches over because he probably assumes that you know what he’s talking about:

First PR lesson – track, filter, and engage brand mentions.

In my articles on the sidebar, I go into using Google Alerts to track mentions of your brand (and that’s a great start), but you should also look into using some other services on top of that now.

• TweetBeep or TweetAlarm are both  good services for keeping on top of Twitter mentions of specific phrases or words, but I’m personally fond of the Seesmic Desktop to keep running searches of the phrases and words that matter to me.
• If you’re like me and follow roughly a hojillion different blogs, a service like FeedRinse can be invaluable, letting you search and organize your feeds so that you only read what interests you.
• Filtrbox is an excellent paid solution for someone who’s looking to maximize his or her brand engagement across blogs, Twitter, and other social media.

That said, I promised you 5 ways to use these tools to slow pitch to the media as John Jantsch recommends. Here you go:

(more…)

A friend of mine has written articles for Community MX for a while now, and he mentioned to me that they’ve been looking for content writers. I’m contributing to the site, now, and they have posted my first article there.  It’s part 1 of a two part series about optimizing their pre-built site templates to make them more search friendly. Here’s a quick excerpt:

This two part article series discusses some of the basics of structuring a web site to help with Search Optimization, and then applies these optimization tactics to two different CommunityMX JumpStarts, Siberia and Stelvio Pass.

This is Part 1 of 2, and discusses the theory of search optimization, keyword research, buying a domain, and structuring a web site. Part 2 brings this theory and prep work into practice using some of Community MX’s excellent JumpStart templates. We’ll be including and editing little snippets of these JumpStarts in this article, but you’ll be best served if you download both of the JumpStarts now.

Take a moment and check it out. CommunityMX has a lot of resources, the membership’s pretty low cost, and, well, I’m not above driving traffic to the site to show them that my articles are worthwhile.

Orlando, FL (18 September 2009) –Bloggers and marketers don’t always have the best professional relationship, but doterati, central Florida’s interactive marketing & media association, is looking to help the two groups see eye to eye and learn how to help each other. Starting with a moderated panel consisting of marketers from Massey Communications and the bloggers behind MyThoughtsIdeasAndRamblings.com, BrainFoggles.com, and Steven-Sanders.com, doterati will give guests a chance to ask questions and listen to the panelists share ideas.

Kicking off IZEA Fest the evening before it starts, “Blogger, Meet Marketer. Marketer, Meet Blogger.” is a chance to learn how to approach a blogger (if you’re a marketer) or a place to learn the care and feeding of marketers (if you’re a blogger).

Whether you are a blogger, marketer, PR agency or a company looking to gain exposure on the hundreds of millions of blogs on the Interwebs, this session will give you an inside look into the mindset of all the parties involved in generating online buzz and ROI through effective blogging. Join doterati and our excellent panelists or an afternoon of networking, education and a free cocktail!

Who should come:

• Bloggers
• Marketers
• PR Pros
• Small Business Owners
• Digerati

Event Details
Who: doterati
What: Blogger Meet Marketer, Marketer Meet Blogger
When:Thursday, October 1st
Panel Discussion   1pm-4pm
Cocktails and Networking   4pm – 5:30pm
IZEA Bus to Howl O’Scream   6pm
Where:
Renaissance Orlando Hotel at Sea World
6677 Sea Harbor Drive
Orlando, FL 32821
Register at: http://izeablogpanel.eventbrite.com/

Cost
$39 for Doterati Members, IZEAFest Ticket Holders, Orlando Ad Fed Members & AMA Members

$49 for Non-Members
Attendees receive one free drink ticket.

Contact Info
VP Marketing Greg Rollett
marketing@doterati.com
doterati.com
321.438.4442

About doterati
Doterati is a 501 c 6 organization from Orlando, FL whose mission is to advance the interactive marketing, media and technology community by serving as an association for professional development, education, community networking and overall inspiration for our digital society.

Become a member and expand your personal and professional network, accelerate your knowledge and embed yourself in the layers of our growing interactive community. Volunteer and gain access to front-row action at events, planning and organizational think tanking. Our radar sweeps for digital brand marketers, Web developers, agencies, creatives, students, entrepreneurs, consultants, start-ups, big-thinkers and everyone in between. Learn more at http://www.doterati.com.

From big names like Regent Seven Seas Cruises to relative unknowns like SeaDream Yacht Club, award-winning travel journalist & publisher Ralph Grizzle offers his advice on the best pick for the luxury cruise of a lifetime

Asheville, NC (PRWEB) August 12, 2009 — There’s no question that luxury cruise lines are offering deeper discounts now than they ever have before, with savings of up to 70% off regular pricing and air included, but if you’ve got the opportunity to take a luxury cruise this year, which one should you choose?

Let award-winning travel journalist give you his considered opinion at www.avidcruiser.com. His article, “The Razor’s Edge: Who’s The Best? Luxury Cruise Lines Square Off” (http://bit.ly/fuwvA) tackles this issue from the perspective of a journalist who has sailed on more than 200 cruises and written more than 500 articles about cruising.

In the past few months, Grizzle has cruised with Crystal Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Seabourn Cruise Line, Silversea Cruises, and SeaDream Yacht Club. His article discusses which of these lines he enjoyed the most, as well as which luxury line he thinks does the best job at delivering an up-market cruise vacation.

“Many of the visitors to my web site, as well as people I meet during my travels, have asked me which luxury cruise line is the best,” Grizzle says. “Of course, there is no easy answer, because the luxury lines are all so good at what they deliver. That said, before you reach the final period indicating the end of my article, you will have your answer.”

About The Avid Cruiser:

The Avid Cruiser is a one-stop source for information about cruises, with photo essays, interviews with friendly staff members, and even a full glossy print magazine that covers the new destinations, ships, cruises, and adventures that any cruiser–avid expert or first time traveler–can set sail on to bring home memories that will last a lifetime. For more information, visit www.avidcruiser.com or www.avidcruiser.com/blog.

About Ralph Grizzle:

An avid traveler and an award-winning journalist, Ralph Grizzle produces articles, video and photos that are inspiring and informative, personal and passionate. A journalism graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he has specialized in travel writing for more than two decades.

Contact:

Ralph Grizzle
Avid Travel Media, Inc
828-398-0570
www.avidcruiser.com

The 999999Followers Project was created to give a twitter account to a charity with 999,999 Twitter followers and a place to broadcast its message.

(Berlin, Germany) – July 10, 2009 – Twitter, the new Internet service that lets you speak your mind in 140 characters or less – has proven a communication boon for many. One of the newer trends that’s just emerging in Twitter, though, is a growing effort to use the social media tool for charity. While some people turn their twitter images different colors in support of a cause, or try to get their fellow “tweeple” to click on a link to raise funds, Christian Rubarth of Berlin Germany is looking to accomplish something that uses Twitter for charity more directly.

“I want to get 999,999 followers on my twitter account 999999Followers,” Christian says. “Once I’ve gotten that many, I will give my twitter account to a charity. Since Twitter lets you change your name, they won’t have to keep the 999999Followers name once I give the account away.”

Which charity will get the twitter account? Everyone who follows 999999Followers on Twitter will be given a chance to vote for which charity he or she feels is most deserving at 999999Followers.broken-monitor.com, and the charity with the most votes will receive it. Tying the reach and interactivity of social media with a desire to do good, this web designer is aiming high: he wants to get all 999,999 followers before Dec 31, 2009.

It may seem like an odd thing to do, giving a charity a twitter account with a giant following, but it makes a lot of sense in this new world of social media. Giving a charity a list of just under 1 million contacts all across the globe who are service-minded and web-savvy is a huge resource pool that any charitable organization could make good use of. Only a few Twitter users have followings in the millions, such as Ashton Kutcher and CNN News, and they’ve seen the power of Twitter to raise funds and awareness.

It’s a lofty goal that Christian has set for himself – and the Twitter community – but if other Twitter users like Ashton Kutcher can get a million users just for fun, he figures that he can accomplish the same thing for charity.

Want to help? Log in to twitter.com or sign up if you don’t have an account and tell your followers something like: “Chris from @999999Followers is looking to get 999,999 followers by Dec 31 & give his acct. to charity. Follow him & please RT!”

Contact:
Christian Rubarth
press@broken-monitor.com
http://twitter.com/999999followers

Skype: pr999999followers

About @999999followers
The 999999Followers Project is the brainchild of 40 year old web designer Christian Rubarth of Berlin, Germany. He wants to get 999,999 Twitter users following him by December 31 so that he can give his account to a charity at the start of 2010. Help him out by following him at http://twitter.com/999999followers and spreading the word through Twitter, Facebook, or anywhere else you hang out online.

Doterati has Guest Speakers Bob Klomp and Lindsey Lawson from WESH’s Digital Marketing Department to Help Explain How to Match Messaging & Branding Between Online and Offline Marketing

(13 July 2009) ORLANDO, FL – Doterati, (www.doterati.com) an Orlando-based organization dedicated to advancing the interactive media community, is hosting an event on Thursday, July 16 2009 that will help explain to advertising agencies and small businesses alike to benefit from the differences between online and traditional media marketing.

As budgets for advertising and marketing decrease, it is increasingly crucial that businesses make the most of their advertising dollar and use the natural advantages of interactive and offline advertising and marketing to mutual advantage. As more and more marketing and advertising move online where results are more measurable, everyone who advertises needs to learn how to use it effectively, and doterati’s luncheon is designed to help.

Featured speakers Bob Klomp and Lindsey Lawson are both digital marketers for WESH.COM/ CW18TV.COM. They will be presenting a keynote on core objectives they use to ensure client success with their traditional and online advertising packages ad services. This event will include lunch and offer a Q & A session for our speakers and audience.

Event Details:

Who: doterati
When: Thursday, July16th, 2008 11am – 1pm
Where: Crowne Plaza Orlando – Downtown
304 W Colonial Dr
Orlando, FL
Free Parking and Free WiFi at the Crowne Plaza
Register Here – http://interactivegap.eventbrite.com/

Event Pricing:

Pre-Registration: Members $20 (with Member Code); Non-Members $25
At Door: Members $25 (with ID), Non-Members $30

Contact Info

VP Marketing Greg Rollett
marketing@doterati.com
doterati.com
321.438.4442

About doterati

doterati is a 501(c)6 organization from Orlando, FL whose mission is to advance the interactive marketing, media and technology community by serving as an association for professional development, education, community networking and overall inspiration for our digital society.

Become a member and expand your personal and professional network, accelerate your knowledge and embed yourself in the layers of our growing interactive community. Volunteer and gain access to front-row action at events, planning and organizational think tanking. Our radar sweeps for digital brand marketers, Web developers, agencies, creatives, students, entrepreneurs, consultants, start-ups, big-thinkers and everyone in between. Learn more at doterati.com.

OvernightPR.com specializes in writing powerful, keyword-rich releases quickly so that you can maximize the impact of your PR. Whether you’re looking to capitalize on a popular trend or need to get the word out now as part of disaster plan PR, Overnight PR’s talent (which is, well, me) has years of experience writing press releases, and has created and distributed scores of past releases. Take a peek at my LinkedIn Profile if you’d like a gander at my experience & qualifications to help you. Let me get right to the point, since we all skim:

Special HARO offer!

Any HARO member who orders his or her first press release from OvernightPR before the end of June gets free release distribution through PRWeb as well as 1 month’s free hosting for their release on PitchEngine. That’s a $130 value included in the price of your release.

The OvernightPR Difference

OvernightPR writes fast. How fast? Fast enough that I guarantee my delivery to you with a promise of money back. If you purchase a press release from OvernightPR and we don’t get it back to you within the time frame your package gives (look at the Pricing Page for more information on this), I’ll refund you the price of your press release and throw in free social media distribution to boot.

Help A Reporter Out is one of the coolest communities around, and HARO and its community have been a great help to me and my clients. By way of saying “Thanks” to the HARO community,  I wanted to reach out to you guys with the special offer above.

While You’re Here…

While you’re here, if you’d like to read some of my blog’s PR tips, you can start by reading the most recent set, or download my older articles in PDF format by visiting the sidebar under “Downloads.”  Also take a moment to sign up for the monthly digest of OvernightPR.com’s blog articles by entering your email in my signup form to the right or visiting the online form instead. Or, if you’d rather, subscribe to my RSS feed.

My Email Policy:

I give my articles away for free to help you make informed decisions on your press release needs.

If you’d like to receive a monthly digest of the topics that I discuss here at OvernightPR, please sign up and be sure to opt-in so that I’ve got you on my list. If at any time you want to stop receiving my article notices, you can do so with the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of every email that I send.

All emails are sent through MailChimp (if you need an email list manager, you should give them a look, because they are awesome), which has a pretty strict no-spam policy that all senders must uphold, so this is not just me, some guy on the internet you’ve never met, saying this.