Caffeinated Marketing

Gettting through all the noise, one cup at a time

Hello Boise Citadel Radio December 1, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — jenharris @ 10:44 am

Jen has landed! Stability is good. Paycheck is good. Cubicle is good!

On Monday, November 29th, 2010 I started my new job as an Account Executive with Citadel Radio. I will be consulting with clients about their marketing practices (love that!) and why a combination of radio, web, text is a fit for XYZ business.  I will be representing 96.9 The Eagle, 93.1 Hit Music Now & 92.3 Kissin’92.

I have always believed that Radio is a good fit in a marketing mix when messaged properly.  (although Jeff Caves stated on Tuesday “so, your going to take a crack of selling traditional?”)  I truly do believe, and always have, it is your messaging, honesty, integrity, reputation and service that will make you successful – whichever medium you choose to be successful on.

I will not be out there selling to selling. I have this desire and need to help people make a difference on their bottom line…it’s the Mama in me: help & change & help & change.

Success is not a matter of luck, it’s a level of happiness that I will achieve.
All my love,
-jen

 

Social Media Diagram: Circa 2008 October 21, 2010

Filed under: social media — jenharris @ 11:38 am
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I am preparing for an interview today & ran across Hub Spots Media Diagrams…that they ran across and posted 22 of them in May.

I did this diagram for MPC in October 2008, right before I was laid off (literally days before) and 2 months before they closed their doors.  It was a very wide-reaching plan for the company social media plan that I was developing.  The plan was rogue since the VP of IT didn’t believe in social media at the time and controlled the website, so this was our plan to go “out there” and make a presence for ourselves based on our new internal bloggers and the success of Michael Boss’ podcasts.  It sort of reminds me of looking at my daughters writing two years ago and thinking “whoa, you have come a looong way baby!”  But what is funny is that so many SMB’s are not even close to understanding how this non-linear approach works and how it can benefit their pipeline and business bottom line.

Thank goodness I save all my notes!  This was originally white boarded, diagrammed out on paper then I believe I used Publisher to make it pretty…in a stick figure way.  I printed this out quite large and wrote “THIS IS WHAT MY BRAIN LOOKS LIKE” where people passing by my isle cubicle could see it…

 

 

 

 

 

What I find funny two years later is how we avoided the MPC Corporate website so blatantly! Our “go to” web page all landed on Diigo.  I would have to conclude that I wasn’t buying into FriendFeed at the time & I was seeing that Diigo was going to give us better SEO feedback.  I was obviously throwing “everything” at the wall and hoping that one way would stick.  It would have been so cool to ride this out…hopefully I have my chance here soon.

 

Marketing Dollars (not) Well Spent: Boise PD & ISP October 12, 2010

Filed under: Free Ideas,Tip of the Day — jenharris @ 10:54 am

If I was a Marketing Director for the Boise Police Department or the Idaho State Police, I would not spend my budget on warning people when, where & what we are going to pull “you” over for.

Ummm, didn’t we all take the test when we are 15/16 years old…shouldn’t we KNOW not to drink and drive, or speed in a school zone or tailgate/drive crazy?

The PR side of story telling and what happens when people drink & drive etc. is differernt – those are almost scare tactics, you know: Oprah-esque stories that scare us into doing the right thing.

My thinking is that if you don’t warn the public where you are going to pull them over (like in the major construction area,  on the very well posted 55 MPH freeway) you might just make some more money by getting those that are not “in the know” of the rules that we learned at 15.  Wouldn’t that increase the number of tickets and hence the budget for the Police Department where it could be used on training, hiring more officers to catch bad guys and better PR stories?

My first PR/Marketing campaign would be reminding people how to use a 4-way stop sign when there are 4 cars. (BTW: the person that is going straight HAS THE RIGHT AWAY, not the person turning)….and when there are only two cars next to each other: yes, the first car to arrive goes first.

Takeaway & Question to you: Do you think the Boise Police Department is using their marketing dollars in a responsible way where we are getting the most use & information from it?  What would you suggest?

 

Leadership Styles September 21, 2010

Filed under: People that are smarter than me — jenharris @ 6:51 pm
Tags: ,

I had a few beers tonight with Derek Ellis of Tsuvo Social. We talked a lot about leadership styles and in some cases the lack there of. And as I sit here thinking about these styles that I have been exposed to in the past five years, I wonder who or what style I want to work for in my next endeavor.
I honestly can’t sit here and quote leadership styles. But it’s kind of like pornography at this point…I know it when I see it.
So yes, I could Google and read up on different styles and types, but I want to know from you…where have you been the most productive and the happiest…and how did you use that to further develop who you are as a working, contributing human being?
Xoxo
-jen

 

Publishing Your Blog with a Plan February 24, 2010

Filed under: Free Ideas,social media — jenharris @ 11:17 pm

Because of this social media frenzie we are all experiencing, there seems to be a flood of info out there – if you and I were editors of a magazine, we might be fired for our disorganization and lack of flow from page to page.

I admit, I don’t have a personal social media plan (other than getting hired somewhere) but if you are a business and have publishing rights (blog, FaceBook, Twitter, yadda yadda yadda) you should know what is going to be published and where it’s going to be published (because it doesn’t belong everywhere) for the next two to three months.
Here is how I have done it for multiple clients:

I do a POST strategy that solely belongs to the authors of Groundswell: Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff.

It takes about 2 hours and my clients have come out with blog topics for 2-3 times a week for about 8-10 weeks.

After you have organized your blog posts that correlate with your industry, put them where it is appropriate.  Please, please, please: don’t put it everywhere – it doesn’t belong everywhere.  If you haven’t figured out WHERE you belong or WHERE your customers are at – I can help with that too.

How do you come up with your blog posts? If you had a schedule, would it be easier?

 

Attract People On FaceBook, Don’t Annoy Them February 8, 2010

Filed under: Tip of the Day — jenharris @ 11:16 am

I am sure you have heard: “Don’t Try to Attract People, Go Where The People Are” (aka: get your tail on FaceBook etc)

I complained recently that there are certain individuals out there who are sub-contracted by businesses to RUN their FaceBook & Twitter accounts.  From our similar “circles of influence” I have heard people complain that his one person’s followers are getting pretty annoyed of getting a Fan Request from every new client of theirs.  Kudos to the businesses for trying something new – boooo for letting someone “do it” for you. Would you let this same person represent you at a meeting with the press or your board of directors?  Nuf said.

So the question for the person that doesn’t know and/or understand these social marketing ways is: If I “go” where the people are at, how do I attract them with-out annoying a bunch of people?

Here is what I would do if I were a business owner and wanting to get on FaceBook and Twitter (of course I have done a strategy to decide if these are the right outlets for my customers):

1.  Make sure that my current customer lists are up to date and include all the vitals:

  • Name, Physical Address, Phone Number of Choice, eMail, FaceBook, Twitter Handle

2.  How do I make sure I have ALL THIS before I start on the social sites? ASK.  Have a conversation with your customers in person or via email and tell them you have a plan to be on FB etc in the next month & you want to make sure that you have all info ready to better serve the customers with support,  promotions, contests, stories etc.  (which of course they will have the option to opt-out of being sent info via FB)

3.  Have a plan: strategy (includes Who, Why, What you want to accomplish, Who else is on board (can you use co-op dollars?) What kind of response time will you have, How will you deal with negative comments?)

4.  Now share this plan with your customers via your updated email list.  Let them be part of the process, let them Opt-Out!, Ask them what they want to see from you (and don’t see…because we have all seen and received crap from being a “fan” of someones business that sends you 2 messages a day).

5.  After you have refined your plan (set a timeline for feedback/ideas), set up your accounts.  Have a reason for people to “fan” you (contest, feedback, discount etc)

6.  If you have a personal FaceBook account, don’t invite everyone (this would be the ANNOYING part) but do post a note and a link saying “I now have a fan page for my business where my goal is X, if you would like to become a fan, thank you – if not, I totally respect that!”  You get the idea…treat people the way you want to be treated.  Unless you are an arrogant jerk with a chip on your shoulder thinking that the world owes you something…and everything YOU post anywhere is relevant – ummm, never mind.

Good luck and don’t be afraid to ask questions to those that are doing a good job – learn from others mistakes and successes!

 

Social Media Etiquette February 6, 2010

Filed under: social media,Tip of the Day — jenharris @ 11:55 am
Tags: , ,

My husband is always giving me a hard time about how many friend requests on FaceBook that I just let sit.  I have been giving these  “friends” a chance to interact before I let them into my life,  but it just doesn’t happen…so NO MORE!

Twice I have posted on FaceBook that if you are not family, a current or past-life friend or someone that I just met In Real Life – I expect a note from you explaining who you are, why you want to be “friends” and where we might have met if my little brain forgot (coffee doesn’t cure all people!).

If you were to go to a real life networking event and went around slipping your business card into people’s back pocket – would you expect them to call or interact with you? So why is it ok online? It’s NOT! Please reach out to the people you want to befriend – it’s quality over quantity.

A quick note would go something like this:

“Hi Jen! We haven’t met before, but so-and-so said you were super funny and a rockin’ Mom so I thought we could get to know each other better.  Happy Tuesday!”

This goes for LinkedIn as well – it’s just plain common courtesy!

Another tip: write a note BACK to the person who wants to be your friend – again, think “what would I do in real life?”