Shannon's thoughts on marketing, public relations, social technology, entrepreneurship and other things

Does this conversation sound vaguely familiar?

Consultant: Your business should have a social marketing strategy.
Brand XYZ: Why?
Consultant: Because social technology will help you generate buzz, get people talking about our brand and in general help people know who you are.
Brand XYZ: Ok, but why is any of that important?
Consultant: Because you want to engage your customers and begin building relationships with them.
Brand XYZ: And why exactly do I want to build relationships with my customers?

Have you been on one or the other of this conversation?

Most communication vehicles had their turn as the shiny new marketing toy, billboards lined the horizon as cars began to venture cross country, radios gave voices to a generation and televisions brought products into homes like never imagined. By now, most businesses "get" they need some sort of social technology plan, if for no other reason than everyone else is doing it. However, remember what Mom used to say, "If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump to?"

Keeping the age old adage in mind, there should be solid business reasons for getting into the social space. Just as a business gives serious thought to choosing location, messaging and product delivery, so to should serious deliberation be given to social technology. It will take up resources, time, money, man power, etc. that could be used for other revenue generating activities. Is it going to be worth the effort?

To ensure your social technology efforts are yielding the expected results, you must first know what results you want from social technology. Right? Right. Begin by answering these basic questions: how is social media going to help your business and what are your objectives for your social media?*

Consider these sample objectives as you begin outlining your social marketing plan:

• Bring fresh ideas into the organization
• Create word of mouth
• Increase customer loyalty
• Increase product and brand awareness
• Enhance public relations efforts
• Lower customer acquisition costs
• Lower customer support costs
• Lower market research costs
• Lower product development costs

Nugget of knowledge: Your business objectives should be SMART - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based.

*Social technology may not be the right communication or marketing vehicle for your business, and that is okay.

It's time for summer vacation:

• car ready: oil changed, gassed up and washed
• clothes packed: an outfit a day, plus a couple for dress up stuff, lingerie and sundries
• entertainment (car): bag-o-fun packed with electronics, DVDs, CDs, magazines, games and extra batteries
• mail forwarded and dog at the kennel
• picnic basket packed: snacks, water and treats
• stove off, iron unplugged and alarm set
• map in hand: route planned, rest stops and best exits for food noted
• hotel reservations: made last month and confirmed yesterday via email (copies on hand)
• entertainment: amusement park tickets reserved last month and confirmed via email (copies on hand)

You're all set to go!

Think for a second...if you put that much effort into planning a vacation, wouldn't you put in the same amount of effort to planning your organization's social technology? As in the example above, proper planning helps to ensure you'll have an enjoyable vacation, with solutions and contingencies at hand for the unexpected. You should do the same thing for your business, plan, with solutions and contingencies in mind for the unexpected.

Nugget of knowledge: successful marketing campaigns are thoughtfully planned out.

Consider these steps as you begin planning:

1. Do your homework: read blogs and white papers; attend webinars, meetups and tweetups; watch videos --> learn from other's missteps and get motivated by their accomplishments


2. Begin at the end: envision success, know what it looks like --> set your goals and objectives, make sure they are realistic and set a time to reach them


3. Control your brand: capture your name in the social media space --> get your username on as many sites as possible, you will not use them all, but no one else can be you in those spaces


4. Be self aware: know your organization's history and mission, know who your customers are and where they are --> go to where your customers are


5. Get your house in order: make sure your organization is on board with adopting social technology --> who is responsible, resources allocated, social media policies and integration plan into current marketing efforts


6. Check out your competition: do a CASE study


7. Evaluate your progress: make sure you're social media is taking you where you want to go --> set benchmarks as you would for a traditional marketing campaign


8. Go for it! You will make missteps, it is okay --> do, mess up, learn...it's the evolution of success

And yes, you are there now.

It is August and a lot of people are vacationing this month. The process – having passion and a purpose, doing proper planning and careful preparation – to execute an enjoyable time away from work, traffic, email, et al is the same process for launching a new venture, be it a business, a blog or personal improvement.

Passion
You want to go to a place about which you're passionate. You will end up spending a lot of time and money getting there and enjoying yourself once there. It is a place that brings a smile to your face when the thought of it crosses your mind. The same holds true for your next venture, the mere idea of it gets your mind racing with ideas and your spirit excited with anticipation. Your enthusiasm about the project is contagious.

Purpose
You know exactly why you're going on vacation. You need time away from "those people" and "that place" to relax and rejuvenate. This is time for you to reconnect with yourself: your body, mind and spirit. Similarly with your venture, there is a reason you're heading down this path. You dream about it or wake up in the middle of the night with ideas. There is an unction in your spirit to do it, if you don't who will, if not now, when?

Planning
You have done the research: you Googled, purchased guidebooks and talked to family, friends and colleagues. You know exactly where you are going, how you’re getting there, where you’re staying and what you're doing. You know how much it is going to cost and you know it is going to be fabulous. For your new venture, you have researched the industry, your competition and the gaps in products or services you can fill. You know the big players in the field, the up-n-coming and where you want to fit.

Preparation
You saved the money and made the lists: to do, packing, emergency numbers, etc. You put in for the time off and you set your email and phone to the out-of-office auto-replies. Likewise, you have secured capital, the domain name, P.O. box, phone number and business cards. You’ve put a support team in place and set-up your home office.

Now…GO!...DO!...BE!