Archives For marketing

Why Outsourcing Social Media Will Stop

June 5, 2013 — 2 Comments

I never understood why a company would outsource for their social media needs.

The reason is now clear.  I never understood this because there is no logic behind it.

Outsourcing social media happens for two reasons.  The first is that Public Relations (PR) firms or advisors are becoming increasingly worried about what their role is in the business environment.  Information is available to companies and people about what they should and can do for marketing and advertising.  There is less and less need for an all inclusive PR management role to handle all communication.

The second reason is that employees, managers and companies are not educated on social media so they listen to their PR managers/advisors and send the work to be done elsewhere at inflated costs.  Social media companies realize this and are providing more learning tools.  Plus, as time rolls on and social media becomes a normal part of our lives people will naturally pick it up one piece at a time, especially the people whose salaries depend on beating this learning curve.

People claiming to be social media experts and gurus and those PR professionals looking to scalp a dollar from the company they claim to want to help will need to look else where for that resource as social media moves in-house.

Tisk, tisk PR people.  What happened to mutually beneficial relationships.  

The Art Of Adaptation:  You have limited resources.  It’s up to you how you divide them up.  

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Digital Generosity

September 20, 2012 — Leave a comment

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Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and other social networks are being abused. The main purpose behind them is to assist in developing or maintaining relationships and communication.

Many people and companies, more so, are using them as a one-way mass communication blast promoting products and asking you to buy.

Contrary to what these people think social media platforms reward what could be called digital generosity. When you contribute something of value like a blog post, comment or advice to a question posted in a forum, you help build a digital space where people want to listen to you.

In order to successful and gain any monetary, marketing or sales value from social media you need to be a giver… Not a taker.

The Art Of Adaptation: Always add more value than you take.

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Lessons On Cover Letters

September 16, 2012 — Leave a comment

 

Cover letters are an annoying but essential tool in securing a job in today’s job market.

 
I’ve worked hard to perfect mine.  Can’t say they look much like the one here…  I hate writing them but truth be told for every job out there, there are people who have resumes that look very similar or even better than yours.  If the layout isn’t better the content and experience could be.

The cover letter may be your only chance to be an individual.  To show who you really are.  To outline what it is that makes you different and more suitable than the other 500 zillion other grads and experienced professionals.

Here is an outline of a cover letter that should only serve as a skeleton, much effort is needed to make this a unique piece:

Date

September 15, 2012
Employer Contact Information
Name
Title
Company
Address
City, State/Province, Zip/Postal Code

Salutation

Dear Mr./Ms. Last Name:

First Paragraph:
The first paragraph of your cover letter should include information on the position you are applying for, including the job title.  If it is an online competition you may want to include the competition number in brackets after the position.

Middle Paragraph(s):
The next section of your cover letter should describe what you have to offer the employer.  Mention why you are qualified for the job and how your skills and experience are a match for the position for which you are applying.

Final Paragraph:
Conclude your cover letter by thanking the employer for considering you for the position. Include information on how you will follow-up.

Closing:

Sincerely yours,

Signature:

Typed Signature

-End-

*Note:  There is no standard for what a cover letter must be.  You may choose to scrap this all together and just do you.  If you have no creativity by all means copy and paste, it would be better than nothing.  In all honesty the only “Correct” cover letter is one that gets you a job!

How do you set yourself apart from other people?  What do you focus on when writing cover letters that you believe helps?

The Art Of Adaptation:  Little details go a long way.

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Make Sales By Looking At A Mailbox

September 14, 2012 — Leave a comment

Many sales people would argue that you can tell a lot about people from very subtle and odd cues. Such as how they groom themselves, their posture, the value of their material possessions. This may not be always true but these things are often used as indicators and profiling tools for sales people.

Today as I helped a friend hand out flyers for a business event he is hosting. I was getting a little bored with the door-to-door repetition after my iPod containing my Foo Fighters collection died! My brain, not being distracted, began to analyze things around all the homes, especially the mailbox. I thought about the following: Is the mail box wood, metal, large, small, squeaky, lubed up, new, old, filled with mail, clean as a whistle? Are there any signs saying no soliciting or any box at all?

I concluded that in most cases the size of the mail box and what it was made of is relative to family or personal income. I found that the lower-income housing would have smaller, sometimes plastic, mailboxes where as the more extravagant homes would have large, metal mailboxes.

The lower-income housing areas would have mail boxes that were often old and squeaky. They were not well taken care of. The more extravagant homes had mail boxes that were quieter than church mice and the lids were very heavy.

Areas with smaller mail boxes also had a higher percentage of them that were stuffed with flyers and filled with old newspapers regardless of the many, “no solicitation” signs clearly noticeable… and ignored. The larger the box the less mail. No really. It wasn’t a matter of more available volume but a mystery about why the boxes with no signs also had no junk mail. Could it be that pizza companies, McDonalds, Tim Horton and other companies catering to low-income families target these households more aggressively?

After noticing all of this I thought to my self, “Does any of this matter or am I wasting my time?”

Of course it matters! You can tell a lot from the things people own. For a sales person this is one more tactic to add to your profiling repertoire. Door-to-door flyers are a fairly ineffective way of getting a message out there. At least for today. As sales people we need every tactic available if we are going to increase our chances of a sale.

From a sales perspective what are the most effective ways to analyze and profile a prospect? Leave your answers in the comments section.

The Art Of Adaptation: Attention to detail is key.

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