U.S., HAWAII: Be The Stage

by Danielle Lum

Hawaii Bureau Chief

In February, I conducted a workshop at the Hawaii Women's Business Center. With more than 15 people in attendance, I’m told that it was one of the Center’s best attended workshops. (Excuse me a second while I pat myself on the back.)

When Board president Joann Seery asked if I would be interested in doing a workshop for the Center’s clients, I jumped at the chance to do it. My reasoning was two-fold:

1. I love to teach. It’s something I always wanted to try, and since I became an adjunct professor at Chaminade University, I really think I have found my calling. I consider it a privilege to be able to help others learn so they can apply it to their lives and businesses.

   
   
2. Just as importantly, I saw it as a great opportunity to expand my network.

It took me about two hours to prep for the workshop. I first assisted the center in writing the workshop description, then crafted an outline of what I wanted to cover during the class. I also utilized my BNI 10-minute presentation to practice a portion of what I was going to cover during the class.

On the day of the workshop, I was thrilled to wake up with the starting of laryngitis. OK, so not really thrilled, just challenged.

I opened the workshop with a quick joke about my voice and puberty and begged their indulgence in getting past the raspy and soft volume. Since most had probably had a sore throat or laryngitis in their lifetime, I got their sympathy and was able to connect.

I’m not going to go into the specifics of what was covered during the workshop. Let’s suffice to say that I was able to provide them concrete information that they could use immediately.

As I reflected on whether the workshop was a success, I went back to the two reasons I agreed to do the workshop: 1) love of teaching and imparting knowledge and 2) expanding my network.

I was successful on both counts. Attendees left energized and ready to apply what they learned to their businesses. And I expended my network. How do I know I expanded my network? Simple:

1. I was able to gather cards from most of the attendees. I then sent a “thanks for attending my workshop” note to them.
   
   
2. I have since referred friends and associates to a few of the businesses that were represented at the workshop. I assisted my friends AND I assisted those who were new to my network.
   
   
3. I have received follow up phone calls and emails from attendees who want to sit with me and pick my brain further.
   
   
4. I had briefly met three or four of the attendees on other occasions. Upon meeting them this time, I made a point of saying that we had met, and the circumstances of our meeting. They were impressed that I would remember them.

APPLY THIS TO YOUR NETWORKING EFFORTS

When I take on a new client, one of the first things I tell them they need to do is position themselves as an expert among their target audience(s). There are many ways to do this, and giving speeches and presentations is one of them.

When you are on center stage, everyone in the room is watching you and waiting for your wisdom. Just being in the spotlight gives you credibility and helps others to understand who you are, what you do, and how well you do it.

Most people have trouble with the fact that everyone in the room is watching you. My best advice to that is: practice, practice, practice. The more you know your stuff, the easier it will be for your presentation to flow. You may be nervous, but because you are prepared, no one will ever know.

I’m not going to get into the specifics of how to give a great presentation (I’ll be doing a workshop on it for the HWBC later this year, so watch for it if you want more information), rather, I want to focus on how you can use presentations to expand your network:

1. Be prepared. The only thing worse than not doing a presentation is doing a bad presentation. Make sure you know your topic and your audience so you can make a good impression. Your credibility is on the line. 

   
   
2. Get names. This sounds like a no-brainer, doesn’t it? I wouldn’t have included it except that I was talking to a friend yesterday. She does presentations all the time, and has done them since I met her over 20 years ago. She just realized that she has never collected names and contact information from anyone in any audience. It’s always been catch as catch can, and, honestly, not very effective. She is now in the process of designing a comment card that she will ask everyone in the audience to complete.
   
   
3. Give out your business card. Another no brainer, but you’d be surprised....

   
   
4. Follow up. If someone comes to you at the end of your presentation and wants to talk, schedule a coffee, lunch, drinks, etc. For those whose names you collected, send an email or other communication (I’m partial to handwritten cards myself) to thank them for taking time to attend. If you have a newsletter or e-newsletter or article, ask if they would like to receive it. This will keep you at top of mind.

So, good luck! Get on the stage. Expand your network. You can do it.


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Danielle Lum is the president of NK Design, Inc., a public relations, advertising, and marketing company in Honolulu. A boutique agency, NK Design specializes in assisting small and new businesses to create memorable message strategies and reach potential customers.

Learn more about Danielle and NK Design:

http://nkdesignhawaii.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nkdesign
http://prponderings.blogspot.com/










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Posted to THE NATIONAL NETWORKER. To subscribe for your free newsletter, go to www.TheNationalNetworker.com. For the complete National Networker Relationship Capital Toolkit and a free, continuous RSS feed (available either by traditional RSS or by direct email), go to: http://thenationalnetworkerweblog.blogspot.com. You are also invited to click our buttons:


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U.S., HAWAII: Be The Stage

OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Is Marketing Obsolete?

Optimizing Your Impact with Jeff Schomay

“Marketing.”

How do you define that word? Obviously everyone knows what it means, but it seems marketing ain’t what it used to be. In the good old days you go out, buy your advertising, and wait to see who comes. Now that we have an internet full of eager consumers, a company can send out millions of directly targeted interactive advertisements with an auto-generated response system and an automated purchasing and cross-selling system with a built-in remunerative affiliate sales program for less cost than what it takes to send out 100 postcards in the mail.

But that’s not all, the things that worked just a year ago – affiliate programs, “squeeze pages”, fancy websites with e-commerce technology – are being largely ignored today, thanks to the proliferation of online social networking platforms. I’ve heard that YouTube broadcasts more user-generated content in one year than all of the TV and radio stations have sent out combined since they day they were invented. People are literally canceling the newspaper and turning off the TV and firing up their web-browsers and aggregate news readers (RSS). And the advertisers who used to use radio, TV, magazines, and newspapers are noticing and hurting.



So again the question – is marketing as we know it obsolete?

To answer, we need to step back and look at what marketing really is. My simple definition: Letting people know you have something to sell. That’s all marketing is; radio, TV, print, direct mail, internet, social networks, sky-writing, etc. are all just tools used for letting people know you have something to sell. And that means the principles are the same for each tool, and it means you better have a strong grasp on the principles if you want to use the tools effectively and make an impact.



Let’s step through the principles quickly.

First off, you can’t market anything if you don’t have anything to sell. What are you selling? Careful, that’s a trick question. A chiropractor doesn’t sell spinal adjustments, he sells comfort. Coke doesn’t sell a flavored, carbonated beverage, they sell refreshment. And the ipod isn’t a fancy portable music player, it’s a machine that provides a soundtrack to your life.

The lesson: don’t ask what you are selling, ask what your market is buying and why they would buy it from you. Come from their perspective and you’ll know what to sell them.



Now that you know what you are selling, how will you market it? I think there are only two things you need to accomplish in marketing:

• Get your message in front of as many eyes as possible, and
• Get those eyes to pay attention to your message

If you have the best message in the world, but no one sees it, is it marketing?

Where should you start? There are tons of places to market:

· Face to face (direct presentation, networking, word of mouth, etc.)

· Advertising through media (TV, radio, magazine, newspaper, etc.)

· Online advertising (web presence, social networking, “ezines’, pay-per-click, etc.)

· Direct mail (both physical and e-mail)

· Outdoor (billboards, signs, transportation, venue, sky-writing, etc.)

· Awareness and information (business cards, flyers, brochures, etc)

· Sponsorship, endorsement, associate and affiliate

· More? (Hire bald people to let you write your message on the back of their head and tell them to ride the bus all over town?)

Ultimately, the areas you use will depend on who you want to reach and what is most fitting, and also fits into an overall cohesive strategy of hitting your target audience from multiple arenas with the same message (they say you have to hear something up to 7 times before you take action, not to mention different people learn in different ways).



If your message reaches a million people, but no one listens, is it really marketing?

Now for the part most people forget to do – make a message that sings! Make it snap, make is sizzle. Make an impact. Figure out how to best present what you are really selling (remember?) so that it:

· Gets noticed

· Gets people’s interest/draws them in

· Gets the results/resonse you want

This is easier said than done and a professional can really shine here, but the basic idea is to approach everything from the buyer’s point of view and what’s in it for them, catch them with something that snaps and back it up with value, and always ask “how can I say this better?” Using visuals, making it fun, making it interactive, making it clear, concise, and interesting will always help “inspire your buyer.” It’s an art and a craft, and it’s too important to skimp on, because marketing that people don’t listen to is marketing that didn’t work.



So… what does all of this mean?

No, marketing is not obsolete. Some of the tools work better than others, but no matter what approach you have, analyze which tools will work best for what you want to achieve, use them to get in front of eyeballs, and most importantly (ever increasingly more so with the human-driven nature of web 2.0) present your message in the most interesting, valuable, and intriguing way to make an impact!



Good luck and good marketing,



Jeff Schomay



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Written by Jeff Schomay

Inspire Your Buyer - Branding and Marketing

Optimize Your Impact. Get Better Results.

www.Inspire-Your-Buyer.com

jeff@inspire-your-buyer.com

(c) 2009

Jeff Schomay is an expert brander and marketer and a professional film writer and director.

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Posted to THE NATIONAL NETWORKER. To subscribe for your free newsletter, go to www.TheNationalNetworker.com. For the complete National Networker Relationship Capital Toolkit and a free, continuous RSS feed (available either by traditional RSS or by direct email), go to: http://thenationalnetworkerweblog.blogspot.com. You are also invited to click our buttons:


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OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Is Marketing Obsolete?

U.S., SOUTHEAST: Networking Over the Radio

By Larry Block
U.S. Southeast Bureau Chief
(The Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida)

Do you often think that you would make a great radio show host? People do business with people they know. And what better way to get to know someone than by interviewing them on your own internet radio talk show? Whether you want to meet interesting people in your industry, position yourself as an expert or just improve your website’s search engine ranking, hosting your own talk show can help you achieve all of those goals.

Atlanta Business Radio X offers a unique service that enables you to host their own radio show and podcast it on the internet. This is truly an innovative way to market your business and connect with the business leaders in your industry. Being a radio show host opens doors that traditional networking approaches just can’t match. By hosting your own radio show, you are instantly seen as an expert in your field and a true connector. Your guests get the benefit of the tremendous exposure that they receive on the internet as well as the status of being interviewed as a guest on a popular radio show.

Every talk show produced is also a face-to-face business networking opportunity. Each week the hosts get to build powerful business relationships with their guests. Their show allows them to be the center of a business community built around their specific niche or industry. The podcast of their show can then be put on their blog and in iTunes The show hosts can take advantage of viral internet marketing techniques used by no one else in their industry.

You don’t have to have any experience or technical expertise to host a show. Lee Kantor and his production staff provides industry-leading training to show you how to be a host, find guests, get listeners, secure sponsors and, most importantly, how to effectively use your shows and podcasts to grow your business. They will also create and host your personalized landing page and provide a permanent archive for the podcasts of your show.

Each week the hosts get to meet and build great relationships with the amazing men and women who are doing great things in the Southeast and all over the country. As a host or a guest, the exposure is tremendous with shows such as Millionaire Moms with Joyce Bone, Gravity Free Radio with Erik Wolf and Stephanie Frost, Chic Perspectives and The Publicity Show with Elizabeth Gordon, Uniqueness is Power with Andy Greider and Dr Fitness and the Fat Guy with Dr. Adam Shafran just to name a few.

In addition to the opportunities that Lee provides a quarterly networking mixer that puts all the hosts and their guests in the same room for a tremendous networking event. Their first event of the year held in January at Alon’s in Dunwoody attracted more than 70 former guests, hosts and business associates. Check out their website at www.radiox.biz for more information and announcements for their next event.

For more information on hosting your own show contact Lee Kantor at lee@radiox.biz

Larry Block is a text messaging expert, president of Mobile Marketing Technologies, Inc. he provides text message advertising and marketing services nationwide. Need an advertising solution that actually works and gets directly to your target market – visit www.hippocketads.com, Larry can be reached at larry@RuTxting.com

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Posted to THE NATIONAL NETWORKER. To subscribe for your free newsletter, go to www.TheNationalNetworker.com. For the complete National Networker Relationship Capital Toolkit and a free, continuous RSS feed (available either by traditional RSS or by direct email), go to: http://thenationalnetworkerweblog.blogspot.com. You are also invited to click our buttons:


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U.S., SOUTHEAST: Networking Over the Radio