Creating a small business marketing plan

Duct Tape Marketing Founder, John Jantsch, talks about a calendaring system that helps small businesses focus on executing their marketing plan daily, weekly and monthly.

Social Media Revolution

AdWORKS is Coming

Come to learn how to be a part of the biggest Marketing & Advertising opportunity in Northwest Ohio at the AdWORKS Kick-Off event Thurs., June 25.

This social hour is free to attend by all. Ad Club of Toledo President, Sara Shiels and I, along with other Ad Club members, will be unveiling all the juicy details of the upcoming AdWORKS event on October 9. You will learn how to be a part of the show by exhibiting, serving on a breakout discussion panel, sponsoring a portion of the event and much, much more.

Those attending the AdWORKS Kick-Off have first crack at exhibitor location, sponsorships, and additional options. You will want to attend this to be in “the know” for the upcoming event!

The Toledo Club - “Red Room”
235 14th Street
Toledo, OH  43604

Thursday, June 25
5:30-7:30 p.m.
AdWORKS Preview Presentation at 6:00 p.m.

Free to attend. Cash bar.

Please RSVP to Patty Schoepf by calling 419.866.4199 or e-mail director@adclubtoledo.org.

Smart marketing in a tough economy

Last week I had the distinct honor and pleasure of participating on a marketing panel organized by Leasa Maxx of Maxx Marketing & Design and the Maumee Chamber of Commerce.

On the panel with me were three very talented marketing professionals: Susie Joyner, marketing manager at Allshred Services; Deborah Rasmusson, director of vocational services for Sunshine Inc. and Georgette’s Grounds & Gifts and Tim Langhorst, executive vp at Thread Information Design.

We covered a lot of ground on topics such as:

• how small businesses can get more bang from their marketing dollars, without spending more
• what can small businesses do to combat the need for cold calling
• how can small businesses foster stronger relationships with clients and prospects
• what is social media and does it make sense for “my” small business
• tips and advise on how to build a practical online strategy

Small business marketing takeaway:

Carve out 60 minutes and watch this video. It’s loaded with tons of practical information and tips on how to market smarter in this very tough economy.

What’s your definition of social media?

We had a very intriguing discussion at the Social Media Breakfast Toledo planning committee meeting today about how each of us have a different way to define social media.

I like to keep things simple, so my favorite definition goes something like this:

Media (published content) with a social (anyone can do it) component.

By the way, seats are filling fast for the inaugural Social Media Breakfast Toledo event on April 3. For more information or to register, click here.

Inaugural Social Media Breakfast Toledo

Social Media Breakfast Toledo is an event where social media practitioners and others interested in communication come together to eat, meet, share and learn. Marketers, public relations professionals, entrepreneurs, bloggers, podcasters, videographers, new media fanatics, and online social networkers are all welcome to attend. Register.

The Social Media Breakfast series began in Boston in 2007 and has now spread to more than a dozen cities throughout the United States.

Our fledgling efforts in the Toledo-area center on defining trends and best practices, and highlighting new apps and experts, as we all try to stay abreast of the rapidly evolving idea of social media.

The inaugural Social Media Breakfast Toledo will include a main speaker and good food, followed by panel discussion and networking.

Date: Friday, April 3, 2009
Time: 7:30 – 9:30 a.m.
Location:
Elk’s Lodge Toledo 53 map it
3520 Holland-Sylvania Road
419.841.6654
Cost: $10.00/person
Event tag: #SMBTOL

7:30-8:00 a.m. Event begins - food, drink and networking
8:00-8:15 a.m. Welcome and opening remarks by Michael Temple
8:15-9:00 a.m. Panel discussion
9:00-9:30 a.m. More mingling and wrap-up

No question or idea is unwelcome. Come share with our new community of social media users. Fee to attend is $10.00 and includes breakfast. 

Inaugural Social Media Breakfast Toledo speakers and panelists:

Victoria Kamm

Allen Mireles

Dave Rigotti

Damian Rintelmann

Michael Temple

Click here for more information or to register.

Toledo Tweetup

If you are on Twitter and want to meet face to face with other Toledo-area Twitterers, come to the second Toledo Tweetup organized by Damian Rintelmann of Hart Associates.

The very first ever Toledo Tweetup was held at The Blarney downtown and had about 20 people attend.

Help make this one even better. I’m going. Are you?

view details, see who else plans to attend and even RSVP (though not required) here.

The renaissance of small business marketing

How users engage with you through digital channels will ultimately define your brand.

Try not to interrupt what people are interested in. BE what people are interested in.

Social media + text releases = PitchEngine

I’m a big believer in, and student of, the techniques of “inbound marketing”. The basic premise behind inbound marketing is to do everything you can to get found by people already searching for the products and services that you offer. For most small businesses, that means setting up your website like a “hub” for your industry that attracts visitors organically through the search engines, the blogosphere, and social media sites. That’s why I LOVE PitchEngine.

PitchEngine makes it possible for PR pros, brands, and agencies to build and share digital, social media releases with their contacts for FREE. I’ve used other free online news release products before, but they did not have the social media component I needed to maximize search engine results for my website.

PitchEngine is PR for the Social Web. Huh? Don’t think of PitchEngine as a distribution service. Think of it as a way to package all of your news assets (like a press kit) in one concise, easy to share, digital package - the social media release (SMR) - that you can edit and make changes to any time.

You build it. You share it.
As a bonus (if we needed one), PitchEngine shares your SMR with Google News, PitchFeed and other social sites and shows you how many views it gets. Again, all for FREE. With PitchEngine, you can create social media releases yourself with nothing more than some copy and multimedia content like images and video.

One of the absolute best features of PitchEngine is that you can then share your release via email and social sites like Facebook, Twitter and more.

Each release is hosted free for 30 days. at which time it will expire.

Small business marketing takeaway:

Not only is it media-worthy, but PitchEngine makes PR more social, meaning your content can be suitable for consumers and “friends” alike. The more content and insight into your brand you provide, the more authentic and transparent you will be to potential readers.

Love it!

P2P still important in small business

There’s no doubt that the Internet and social media has changed the dynamics of small business. But, I’m here to tell you that small business, any size business for that matter, is also still about P2P, people-to-people. Meeting someone face-to-face, shaking their hand, looking them in the eye and developing a trusting relationship.

In honor of Make a Referral Week, I thought I would tell you about an experience I had the other day with the members of the Toledo Business Group; a BNI-like organization, who meet in person every week to share, learn, network and provide referrals or other assistance. The meetings are run by OSU sweater vest t-shirt creator, John Amato.

The mission of the Toledo Business Group is to develop relationships among Toledo-area professionals. Our goal is to create referrals and make introductions to promote business to those we trust and know will provide the highest level of service.

Our meetings consist of a short segment on the business of each member, how we can help their business succeed, and, each week, a longer, more in-depth synopsis from a different member, business and networking tips, motivational stories and an example of a well-known figure that has exemplified the qualities of a leader.

They’re a great, diverse group of entrepreneurs, small business owners and professionals interested in referrals, yes, but also looking to make P2P connections among this increasingly digital world.

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