Moxie! - Shamelessly Marketing Yourself and Your Business

So many forms of social media marketing and PR, but so little time! Of course, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity to those of us trying to market our small businesses. 

Have you been toying with the idea of doing a podcast for your business, but don't have the time to learn another technology? Audio Boo to the rescue! At http://www.audioboo.com, you can record podcast segments up to five minutes long at no charge and post your "Boo" files for free, autoposting them to Facebook, Twitter, etc. How great is that? You can also publish your "Boo" from there to iTunes with the click of a button and also grab the RSS feed! The instructions are dead-simple, anyone can do it. You can either record into a mic plugged into your computer, using the Audioboo.com web-based application, upload a previously recorded mp3 file (like one you might make using a digital recorder), or even simpler, use the iphone app and just talk into your phone and post right from there! The account signup online is easy and free. Did I mention it's EASY and FREE!?!?  Visit www.audioboo.com and take advantage of this technology. Your clients and customers will love hearing about your special offers, products, and services through their iPods while they are working out or driving to the office. Your community of followers and fans will grow, and you can take your business to the next level! See you there :)

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In the parlance of branding, "visual identity" seems to have garnered just a tad more attention than it really deserves. Why? Because the perception and RECOLLECTION of the essence of your business's brand can be vastly expanded by using a multi-sensory approach, rather than just relying on traditional VISUAL cues. 

Why, for example, do the best real estate agents painstakingly "stage" a home for the open house they are having as they attempt to interest buyers in the property? Sure, they de-clutter and paint, etc., but they also make sure the air inside is fresh, there's a pot of coffee brewing, and that there is relaxing music softly playing in the background. It's about ALL the senses, not just the eyes!

Sonic branding provides you with another means of getting your message across. It can give you that complete approach towards branding. It broadens your marketing coverage,  provides another way for your customers to remember your company, and can help increase loyalty to the products and services you offer.

Give your branding strategy the complete tools necessary to make it work on more than the visual level. Sonic branding completes the picture. It makes your branding strategy more effective, and with more positive appeal. Sonic branding done in good taste can be one of the most powerful and effective tools in your marketing arsenal. Whatever the sound signature that you ultimately select, use it liberally: in your podcast, your on-hold music, a ringtone people can download, as part of a website opening audio greeting, etc. If it fits well with the rest of your brand, it can really give your brand that extra boost.

Although not a new phenomenon, sonic branding is becoming an increasingly strong vehicle for conveying a memorable message to targeted consumers. As traditional media grows into non-traditional sectors, today's savvy-eared consumer is accessible anywhere. From non-lyrical sound bites to catchy snippets of tunes, these sonic brands take advantage of one of the brain's most powerful memory senses - sound. How about the sound of your Windows operating system when you turn your computer on? or the roaring of that Harley that belongs to your neighbor? Sonic branding allows increased brand recognition across a variety of platforms, since people will hear things where they are not necessarily looking. One does not have to listen to hear, whereas one does need to be looking in order to see. Sound, particularly music, has a strong memory trigger that heightens the brain's ability to recall. Experts now believe that sonic brand delivers "a share of mind that visual branding alone cannot achieve."

Call us today to explore how you might use sonic branding as part of your overall branding strategy. We can help brainstorm and deliver a wonderful sonic signature for your business, and it's more reasonably priced than you think!

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LinkedIN continues to evolve and has become the most useful networking social site for professionals and career seekers, as well as recruiters. More applications are being developed and shared for use on LinkedIN, and among the most useful we have found is the SlideShare app. Usually, the SlideShare application on LinkedIN is used by people wishing to share slides from a talk, a webinar, artist portfolio, or whitepaper. But sometimes, someone also wants to share a video of their talk, a screencast, or a demo. They like sharing their slides and documents with their networks and want to share videos in the same way.

Now, the SlideShare application has been updated to include video as a new format you can share on your LinkedIN profile. It's the same simple method of sharing as when you share your slides: Just upload your file, and share with your network. Or browse profiles of people in your network, so you can see their videos.

In addition, if you've actually linked your regular SlideShare account to your LinkedIn profile, whenever you upload a video onto your SlideShare account, it will also show up on your LinkedIN profile. So bring on all your quality videos, talks, screencasts, demos and webinars - anything you would like to share with your professional network. Once the video is uploaded, you will be directed to a video page, where you can share the video on LinkedIn, Twitter and other social networks, the same way you do with presentations.
 
Today, it is presentations, documents, and videos. Tomorrow, it will be something new and different. That's about the only constant we have right now: constant change. So embrace these new technologies and you will soon get used to learning as a way of life!  It can be fun and certainly keeps us all on our collective toes.

How are YOU using LinkedIN and SlideShare to connect and grow? Share your stories, successes, and what's working best for you by sending an email to: lisa@colecomm.biz or weigh in at www.facebook.com/colecommunications. Got a suggestion? We'd love to hear it!

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As many of you know, Cole Communications, LLC was born of what at the time I considered to be a true disasater: getting laid off.  After the initial shock, the shame kicked in: what had I done wrong? How could my perceptions of my own competence and performance have been so completely off base? Self-doubt crept in and proceeded to hamper my efforts to find another position in marketing/communications/PR, where I had spent most of my career.

But I slowly began to seek help from others, to network with others doing similar kinds of work (I used to HATE the idea of networking, and it's still sometimes a challenge for me).  Most importantly, I began to find inspiration through the entrepreneurs and small business launchers with whom I began to rub elbows. Their creativity, their courage, their tenacity, and their unfailing determination really began to make a difference in my own attitude, and for that I will always be grateful.

So, when I ran across this video, I just had to blog about it. It's my hope that entrepreneurs really WILL be the little engines that could in this depressed economy. Do you know an entrepreneur? Somone trying to start a business? Share this video with them... but then again, maybe they don't need it. Maybe it's the rest of us who do.

Sometimes, even though I live and breathe social media, marketing, and communications, it comes down to the kernel of an idea, a vision that translates into a brand, and a word or an image that inspires. What do you think?

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It is such a privilege to be asked to judge these fine business plans from clients of the Womens' Business Center of Northern Virginia. When I'm all finished, I'm going to post the names of all five of the businesses whose plans I adjudicated (I have to check and make sure that doesn't violate any rules, though, I wouldn't want to do anything immoral here!). They are each and every one extremely thorough and well-organized. This is one reason why I love to work with small businesses: their concepts are so creative!  Their hard work, imagination, and dedication pores out of the pages, and it truly is inspiring to read them. No wonder small businesses are the engines of our economy. Now, back to my reading! More later.

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Well, after months of wishing I could have a SELF-HOSTED blog on my website, which I designed and update using the Intuit Homestead web tools, they finally got their act together and made that possible. I love knowing that all my writing and posts are now feeding the search engines great content and giving my site alot of web authority and credibility.

Of course, I won't ditch my blogcast, which is called "NonProfit MissionCast," and which serves up audio advice on all things marketing and social media for NFPs and small businesses. But THIS blog will be more of my daily thoughts and tips for my clients, colleagues, and prospects, and a place most importantly where I can ask them and you, the readers, what YOU think! Comments are definitely enabled, so joing the fun and the conversation on this new blog. Don't be shy, now :)

Lisa

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