Janet Killen's blog

Ok, you may have known this, but I didn’t.  I admit I tend not to think of LinkedIn unless a group discussion pops up in my email, but LinkedIn now allows us to track changes/updates made to specific company profiles.

Sometimes I can follow a recipe to the “T”; other times not so much.  Why do I tend to deviate from something I know will be good if I just stay with it?  I think it has to do with choice.  I want to remind myself that I can do whatever I want as long as I’m willing to live with the consequences.  

Same holds true for marketing… the communications strategy you develop can be pulled back a bit (here and there), but it’s important to remember that the results can become equally limited.  But, can you (or the powers-that-be) live with that?  

Recently I’ve seen some interesting discussions of PowerPoint presentations, most notably a discussion on the use of PowerPoint for military briefings.  Here’s some of the scuttlebutt (as reported recently by the New York Times).

When I talk to myself these days (and let’s hope I’m not alone in this), I no longer think that “the ‘right’ media must pick up my news release…they just have to understand how relevant this news is to their audience (and to me).”  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’m less serious (read: obsessive) about my work these days, it’s just that I have a new PR 2.0 attitude.  In the past, I’d wail about a key publication that passed on the news I offered, but today I acknowledge that trade media isn’t my one and only audience – it isn’t even my most important audience – because I can ac

Of course not.  The business and trade press are a particularly valid link to your buyers.  In fact, you should be issuing more press releases today, not less — and you should not only be making your information available to editors, but simultaneously to relevant bloggers and social media networks.  Generating news means that your company is busy, growing, evolving; whereas a lack of news can put you in the stale, uninteresting category.

Recently, my son mentioned that he “hung out” at a bar, playing pool with some well-known musicians.  While at the bar, a number of the people were taking pictures — which he would normally think was pretty ‘cool.’  But instead of enjoying the moment, he said he kept thinking about where these photos might surface on Facebook.

Marketing Sherpa has put out a book on “Social Media Marketing and PR” which includes an “to do” type article on the Nine Steps to Social Marketing Success.  It’s a useful, but somewhat lengthy, guide so I’m paraphrasing the main points of the piece for you here:

Step One: 

BtoB companies usually agree that the use of traditional PR practices is an especially effective way to build a brand – and many now believe that social media should be part of their branding strategy. But how, they wonder, do we begin?

The answer most often given is “by listening.”  And that’s because it is the answer that makes the most sense.  Like dipping a toe in the water before jumping in, listening allows you to get a little familiar with the environment before you become part of it.

While planning a large family dinner, I realized that I was really creating a content strategy.

My dinner content strategy had a lot in common with my just-developed forklift safety content strategy where I created the primary message (the entrée) and all the corollary messages (side dishes) that would be of interest, or satisfying, to my ‘audience.’

Which means one of two things:  I have discovered a really apt analogy or I need to stop taking my work home.

Anyway, to me, a good content strategy calls for the following:

They are…and a whole lot more.

Case studies are one of the most effective means to get your product/service message across—complete with an endorsement from a satisfied customer.